Hogwarts a ReWrite: Bk1
by Mario Tobler
Summary: Harry discovers the world of Wizardry alongside Ginny Weasley, who is away from her family and her younger brother Ron for the first time in her life. The two bond instantly, but soon discover an ancient relic that changes history...
1. Prologue

A/N: Welcome to 'Hogwarts a ReWrite'. I hope you all find it as funny as I do that I just completely rewrote this story! Enjoy my first chapter, fittingly called, 'prologue'.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Sunlight was rising on the normal street of Privet Drive. In the dull normal houses slept dull normal families. None was as dull or normal as the Dursleys of number four Privet Drive. They were perhaps the most normal and certainly the dullest family on Privet Drive.

Vernon Dursley rolled over in bed to swipe at his alarm clock, with the intent to silence it. Unfortunately, he forgot about the half-eaten bowl of ice cream he had snacked on last night, as it splattered across the floor. Vernon sighed as he sat up and looked at the mess. Lord, he needed someone to clean his house. Luckily, he had hard-wood floors and it was all easily wiped up with yesterday's shirt.

With a mighty heave, he lifted himself from his bed and walked quietly towards the bathroom, only stopping to grab his suit from the closet. He didn't want to make too much noise or he might wake his amazing wife Petunia. They had been married for about three years now and were still young, only in their mid-twenties. Petunia could be slightly critical when displeased, and Vernon found it best to go with the flow.

Vernon was a normal person and was very proud of his life so far. Aside from his wife, he had a young, promising young son who was sure to follow in his father's success. Vernon took great pride in the fact that he was close to becoming the next Vice President of Drill Production at Grunnings Drill Co., the youngest in a century since Grunnings' founding. Vernon was happy with his life.

What he wasn't happy about was all the strange happenings on the news last night; strange owls, shooting stars, strange people in cloaks, and other sorts of unnatural things. His wife had told him all about her sister and what kind of people she was apart of. If Vernon was to be honest, he didn't mind the magic world, if anything he was curious about it. Petunia didn't stand for questions about her sister or her type of 'freaks'.

He had only seen the illustrious Lily Evans and her soon to be husband James Potter once. They had shown up uninvited to their wedding while Petunia was in the restroom. He had held a pleasant conversation with them until Petunia had come storming over and yelled at her sister to leave. It had also marred their honeymoon, as Petunia wouldn't speak with him until he saw what he had done wrong. He had eventually apologized for fraternizing with 'freaks'.

Vernon sighed as he left the bathroom to get his shoes for work. Petunia was sitting up in bed watching the news.

"_Many people have spotted strange long lasting fireworks in the sky along with…"_

"Oh Petunia dear, you're up. How was your sleep?" Vernon said as he hurried over to his wife's side of the bed and made to give her a good morning kiss, but Petunia turned to the side, causing him to kiss her cheek instead.

"Were you going to work without saying goodbye to me Vernon?" Petunia sounded peeved, he was sure to be in the guest room tonight no matter what his answer was.

"Of course not dear, I was merely giving you more time to sleep in." The glare he received told him she hadn't bought it. He attempted to change the subject. "Petunia dear, have you heard from your sister lately?"

"No Vernon, why would I talk to that freak?" Petunia said with some heat in her voice.

"All the things on the news lately, the strange happenings: I think it might be something to do with her kind." After he put his shoes on, he sat with his wife in bed.

She scowled, "I wouldn't put it past her lot to get in the way of real people trying to live normal lives." She turned the page in the Homecare magazine she was reading.

'Their son ... he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"

"I suppose so," said Petunia stiffly.

"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"

"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me," said Petunia with malice.

"Couldn't agree more dear," Vernon said as he got up, "Well I'm off to work."

"Don't come home too late," said Petunia, making no move to hug her husband goodbye.

Vernon sighed as he left the room. He would have to try harder to find ways to make his wife happy. He walked down the stairs to the kitchen, before he looked his watch, no time for a homemade breakfast. He did not want to be late for work. Vernon opened the door and out of habit looked down for mail. What he saw most definitely wasn't mail. It was a baby. He gingerly picked up the bundle and found a letter. Reading the letter, he was gob smacked and had to read it again to be sure he read the green ink right.

"Vernon, what in the Lord's name is in your hand." His wife said as she came down the stairs.

It looked to him like he was going to be late to work after all.


	2. All Aboard the Hogwarts Express

Chapter 2: All aboard the Hogwarts Express

Harry Potter awoke at 5:30 AM on the first of September. He was unable to go back to sleep. Later today, he would start at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yes, Hogwarts was a school for wizardry, and he was a wizard.

It all started when he had received a letter one month into the summer…

Harry sat alone on his bed, in the smallest room of a four-bedroom house. He was not alone in the literal sense, as his Aunt Petunia was berating him for getting better grades than her useless son got the past year at school. She could yell all she wanted at him. If it weren't about his schoolwork she'd find something else to hate him for, he may as well be yelled at over something he enjoys.

Not all boys liked homework, but Harry wasn't a normal boy. Other boys did not like homework because they would rather talk to their friends, something else Harry didn't have. The truth was, he enjoyed studying and doing well in school. He enjoyed being good at something. He would not let her take that away, even as he walked toward the cupboard, the usual punishment for the smallest circumstance.

The cupboard was a small cramped closet under the stairs where they sent Harry when he did something 'wrong'. If his aunt had her way he would live under there full-time, but his Uncle Vernon had mentioned that they had no other place to store their cleaning chemicals and he didn't want Harry spilling the expensive chemicals. The reason didn't matter to Harry, he was just happy his aunt hadn't stuffed him out of sight, like some monster. Who knows what he would be like now if he had been forced to grow up down there.

Harry got off his lumpy mattress to go down to the cupboard. At the bottom of the stairs, the morning mail came through the mail slot. Normally Harry wouldn't care too much about the mail; he never got any. There was something different about the stack of mail though. In fact, the letter on top had his name on it. Harry picked it up and read the glossy green ink:

Mr. H. Potter  
The Smallest Room  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey

Harry was so surprised that he almost did not hear his cousin, Dudley stomping down the stairs. Lucky for Harry he did hear Dudley coming at the last second and ducked inside his cupboard, even more lucky for Harry was the fact that Dudley wasn't observant enough to see the hidden letter before Harry shut the cupboard, most Lucky of all though was Dudley. He smelt bacon. Dudley liked bacon.

Harry had barely pulled the string to the cupboard light bulb before he heard Dudley in the kitchen, "Where's the freak?"

"He's in the cupboard being punished," his aunt shrilly replies.

There was silence for a few seconds, "Can I have his bacon?"

Trust Dudley to think with his stomach. Harry, on the other hand occupied himself with the letter held tightly in his grasp. His first letter, his and not the Dursley's. He flipped the envelope over anxiously and read the wax before unsealing it. 'Hogwarts' wasn't a place he had ever heard of, but this didn't daunt his spirit. He took out the letter and read:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(OMFC, Grand Sorcerer, Chief. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards.)_

Harry took a break after the brief introduction. The titles of this man named Dumbledore overwhelmed him as he read. He took a breath and read on:

Dear Mister Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has accepted you. Enclosed is a list of needed supplies and books.  
Term begins September the first. Someone will be by to assist you no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress

Harry finished the letter and started to fold it uncertainly before angrily crumpling it up and throwing it to the other end of the cupboard. It was just another one of Dudley's stupid pranks to get his hopes up. He wanted Harry to rush into the kitchen happily and proclaim he was a wizard. Well that is not what he was going to do. Harry lay down on the floor and drifted to an uneasy sleep, which weirdly enough involved a dream of Dudley poking him with a broomstick.

The next month proceeded much slower for Harry than previous holidays from school. It was visible to anyone who cared to look that Harry had a passive look on his face. He didn't even argue when his Uncle Vernon told him to paint the shed two different colors in the span of as many days. All he thought of was the prank letter from Dudley. The more he thought about it the more unlikely it seemed that his lard of a cousin, the same one that only passed primary school much thanks to his uncles well paying job at Grunnings, had thought this up. It was much too cleverly thought out to be the mastermind of a boy whose greatest invention was chicken wrapped in bacon.

Soon after Harry had thrown the letter, he found it and smoothed it out. Harry had taken to reading it in his room at night. It was just too good a dream for him to forget. As Harry quietly reread his letter upstairs, there was trouble brewing downstairs.

The Dursleys sat down to their marvelous dinner cooked by master chef Petunia Dursley. As they began to enjoy the culinary masterpiece without the ever-greedy orphan who lived upstairs, there was a soft knock at the door. Vernon was tempted to yell at the boy to get it, but he stopped at the thought of it most likely being an upstanding citizen. Vernon couldn't even conceive how wrong he was as he rose to get the door. He opened the door to see a sight that stopped his blood cold. At the door was an older woman in bright green robes. This was the first witch he had seen in years and he was beyond fearful. Petunia had told him of the sport they made of normal people.

Vernon retreated in front of the door to the dinning area and stood as if guarding the door, "You're trespassing on private property and if you don't leave I'll be forced to call the police." His voice was fearful but strong with conviction.

The woman stepped in and closed the front door behind her, "I assure you that won't be necessary Mr. Dursley. I am here on behalf of your nephew." She finished this statement by waving her hand behind her back.

Vernon felt compelled to relax. Maybe he could have a civil conversation with this woman after all. He stood still stood in front of the doorway to the dinning area, "What could you possibly want with the boy?"

"My name is Minerva McGonagall, I am a professor at Hogwarts, and I am assuming you read the letter Mr. Dursley."

Vernon looked confused, scrutinizing the woman with a close eye. She seemed like an upright woman, even if she was a witch. "I honestly have no clue what letter you're talking about. Please call me Vernon; Mr. Dursley was my father's name." Vernon found it best if he just treated her like a business associate at a Halloween party, a business associate who would make him and his family into a puppet if he said the wrong thing. Vernon involuntarily shuddered.

Minerva eyed him closely, "The letter Mr. Dursley that was sent to this house one month ago. The letter has a magical trace indicates that the letter has been open and read, yet hasnt been acted on. Surely one of you has read it?"

Vernon turned around and opened the door behind him, "Petunia dear, have you gotten a letter from a Minerva McGonagall?"

There was a suspicious silence from the other room followed by the clanging of silverware and scuffling of a chair. The very long and angular neck peeked around the corner of the dinning area and gasped. "VERNON! What is that doing in our house?"

Minerva narrower her eyes at Petunia, "Mrs. Dursley, 'That' is here to inform your nephew of his acceptance to Hogwarts. Now if you please…"

Petunia swiftly cut her off, "He won't be going to that wretched school."

"Won't be going to what school?" Harry had appeared at the top of the steps, obviously alerted by his aunt's shriek. His eyes widened, "Did she say Hogwarts." Before anyone could answer him, he rushed from his room with his Hogwarts letter. He looked straight at McGonagall, "Did you send this letter to me?"

Minerva took in the sight before her. The large man and from what she could see in the dinning area an equally large son. Her eyes than turned to the obviously undernourished boy at the top of the stairs, "Mr. Potter, my name is professor McGonagall. I will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts. I see you've received your letter; I am here to take you to get your school things for Hogwarts."

"You obviously didn't hear me before," like anyone could possibly ignore Petunias shrill voice, "He isn't going to that school for unnaturalness."

"Mrs. Dursley, Mr. Potters name has been in the books for Hogwarts since he was born. If you're worried you won't be seeing your nephew for a long time, I assure you he will come back for the summers." Harry almost laughed as she seemed to truly believe she had found the source of Petunia's worry.

If anyone had ever heard a sound that sounded like a laugh coming from Petunia Dursley, now was that time. "I wouldn't care if he never came back, but he won't be going to that damn school."

Vernon was watching all this byplay confusedly. He had not the slightest idea what they were talking about. He might be yelling right now, but he had been irrationally happy since that woman had walked in. "Petunia dear, doesn't this mean he'll be gone for quite some time. Haven't you been saying how much you have been wishing he would leave us? I say he should go." Saying his piece, he turned to stare at the wallpaper. His house had such pretty wallpaper. He absentmindedly traced the lines with his finger, completely missing the shocked expression on his wife's face as she stormed out of the room telling him to do as he wished.

Minerva was still visibly angry by the apparent lack of care for their nephew, if not even more upset by Harry's indifference towards it. She pushed her anger down, "Mr. Dursley, I shall be taking Harry shopping for his things now, we'll be back later, and I expect you to take Harry to Kings Cross on September first. Good day Mr. Dursley."

Vernon looked at her and over to Harry, who had made his way down the stairs and gave him a smile, "Sure, have fun kiddo." He turned and went back to the dinning area for his breakfast.

Harry had resisted the urge to faint. If anything was weirder than his uncle's sudden niceness, it was how he went into the other room. If he didn't know any better, he'd say his uncle had skipped. He turned to McGonagall, "What did you do to him?"

"I do not know to what you refer. Shall we, Mr. Potter?" she asked holding out her arm. He took it and felt as if someone had pushed him through a tube, and onto his magical life.

HPHP

Harry awoke at 6:30 far too excited to sleep. His last month at the Dursleys had been simply, for the lack of a better word, magical. He thought back on his trip to Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall. She had taken him by 'apparition' to a small pub in London called 'The Leaky Cauldron' where he met Tom the barkeeper and the Hogwarts Groundskeeper, Hagrid. Hagrid was in the cauldron having a drink and was literally the largest man Harry had ever seen, but he was polite enough not to mention it. He talked for a while with Hagrid. The barkeeper told McGonagall she had an urgent message from some 'Dumbledore' fellow. She asked Hagrid to take him to get his school things before she left in a big fireplace. Hagrid had taken him to Gringotts bank where he found a fortune, to the stores where he found his things, and the Owlery, where he found a friend. Hagrid had bought him a belated birthday present, a snowy owl. He had received stares from people, which prompted Hagrid to tell him of his past. Overall, Harry was a much more complete boy. He even had a wand, 11 ½ Oak and a Griffin tail hair. Harry packed all his belongings into a trunk he had purchased. He waited patiently for his Uncle to wake and drive him to the station. His aunt had downright refused to go.

Just then, his bedroom door opened and his Uncle was standing there looking as cheerful as always. "Let's go boy, and be quiet. Everyone else is asleep and we don't need you waking them up." His uncle left for the car, generously leaving Harry alone with his incredibly heavy trunk. Harry dragged it down the stairs, hitting each stare with a loud thud. His uncle lazily watched him as he drug his trunk and put it in the boot. All the while giving encouraging statements like, 'Faster boy, I don't have all day." And of course, "Carry it over the grass, we don't want to squash it do we? Better yet, go around" No we sure didn't. Harry got in the car and put on his seatbelt.

The slow, quiet, and slightly awkward car ride commenced to Kings Cross. Harry soon fell asleep.

His uncle comfortably awakened Harry, as he slammed the brakes, causing Harry to crash into the dashboard. Harry shook his head and stared daggers at his uncle.

His uncle glared right back, "That will teach you to put on your seatbelt on won't it boy."

That was coming from a man that couldn't physically put his own seatbelt on. Besides, Harry had put his seatbelt on before he fell asleep.

"What are you waiting for boy, get out of the damn car." His uncle watched as Harry got his trunk out and struggled to put it on a cart. He then drove away.

McGonagall had told him the secret of the platform. He didn't know which column to go to though.

He continued walking past a large group of redheads led by their bustling mother. "Hurry boys, we don't have long before the express leaves for Hogwarts without you"

This sealed it, he just had to follow this woman and find his way onto the platform. However, she looked quite busy shuffling her many children around, maybe he should just watch them and see how they do it… He watched as two by two, they disappeared into a wall. He had found his wall. When the redhead family passed through he casually sauntered up behind them and entered the disappearing wall. The most beautiful scarlet train met him on the other side; it truly astounded him. He began walking forward observing the platform around him. The landing was packed. Though there were some obviously less magical families, just as many families were quite magical and resembled some of the ones he had seen while shopping in diagon Alley. He saw the family headed by the strict woman he had followed onto the platform. They all had red hair, and it was quite a large family. The mother seemed to be wiping her youngest son's nose, which made his older siblings snicker behind their hands.

The horn on the train blew a warning. Harry hurried happily to the scarlet engine and began to lift his trunk up the steps, but found the task a bit too hard for his scrawny eleven year old muscles.

"Whoa, looks like you could use a hand there." Came the voice of one of the redhead family he had seen earlier, followed by what appeared to be his twin.

"I think he could use four, my good brother," suggested the other twin.

"Yes, it appears he does, I guess we'll do the honors then."

The unnamed twins heaved his trunk onto the train.

One of the unnamed twins started to ask another question when a pound on the shoulder from his other twin stopped him short. At his suggesting, he turned to where his twin was looking, straight at Harry's forehead. There was the lightning bolt scar that had tormented him all his life and the one he just recently learned what it meant. They both gasped.

"Don't tell me you're him," Fred asked breathlessly

"It is Fred, it's him." George added

"But it can't be, your Harry Potter!" Both twins squealed simultaneously.

"I know" Harry was getting suspicious at these two new people.

"Fred, George, come here boys."

The twins reluctantly tore their gaze away and heeded their mother's call. Harry walked inside and picked a compartment near the back, he could hear the redhead family talking outside his window.

"Oh good you're here, now where is your brother Percy."

"I'm here mother, I was with the other prefects" said a different voice

"Oh Percy, you're a prefect? You haven't mentioned it before"

"Except the two times this morning," Laughed Fred

"Don't forget three times on the drive here," laughed his twin.

"Boys leave him be."

"Mum, you'll never guess who that boy we were talking to was," said Fred excitedly.

"George, tell me you're not picking on a first year. You may have forgotten, but you were one once."

"Mum, that was ages ago and that's hardly as important as this. We met Harry Potter." There was a surprised gasp from their sister and a sigh from their mother.

"You're sure boys? I guess he'd be that age now," replied their mother. "Boys promise me you won't bother him this year, I'm sure he doesn't want all that attention."

"I wonder if he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like"

"Don't you dare ask him Fred, he hardly needs reminding of that night," their mother added sternly

"I would give anything to be famous like him," said the youngest boy he hadn't met yet

"Well Ron, save the world by slaying a powerful dark wizard and we'll see what we can do." Fred said

"Promise me you won't bother him too much this year," pleaded their mother

"Whatever you say mum" replied the twins half heartedly as they and the rest of their family got on the express.

Another horn blew as the train began to roll slowly. Harry was alone. He was thinking about what he'd just overheard from the family. He was famous for killing a dark wizard at the age of one. Not something, he was quite keen on talking about, as it did lose him his parents. Hogwarts was going to be different from anything he'd ever seen. He didn't really think he'd adjust to the many eyes on him very well. He had to make the most of it, make his first friends. How hard could it be? His thoughts were interrupted as the compartment door slid open.

One of the redheads that he had seen earlier walked in a looked around uncertainly, "May I sit here, everywhere else is full and my great prats for brothers won't let me sit with them."

Harry shook his head and she took the seat across from him.

"I'm Ginny by the way, Ginny Weasley."

"Harry Potter"

Her eyes briefly flew open, "They weren't lying I guess, it really is you"

"Yeah, disappointed?" Harry asked

Ginny blushed, "Oh no that's not what I said."

"I was joking, Ginny was it?"

"Y-yeah" she said, blushing again.

Boy, she sure blushed easy. The door slid open as the twins he had seen before came in.

"There you munchkins are. You sure know how to pick them Ginny; this is the superhero we told you about earlier. By the way Harry, I'm Fred Weasley, this handsome young man beside me is George Weasley, and this is our adorable younger sister Ginevra Weasley."

"Ignore these dolts, my name is Ginny," she argued back

"Don't listen Harry, she loves being called Ginevra. Ah well, duty calls. We'll be in a middle compartment with Lee if you need us. See ya Harry, bye Ginevra." The twins left Ginny in a frazzled state.

"Sorry about them, they can really be a bit too much, but they're worth a laugh sometimes," Ginny said apologetically.

"Don't worry about me, I found them pretty funny… Ginevra" Harry laughed at her expense

Any comeback she had been bitten back as the compartment door slid open and a slightly pudgy boy looked in, "Have you guys seen a toad around here?" He asked nervously

"Yeah you just missed a couple of red speckled toads," Harry said, earning a laugh from Ginny, "But no, we haven't, sorry."

The boy left and silence descended on their compartment again.

"So, what is the rest of your family like?" Harry asked, after a couple of minutes of staring out the window.

"Oh, my family is great. I'm the only girl of course, besides Mum. I have six brothers. My oldest is Bill, he was Head Boy at Hogwarts; he graduated from Hogwarts four years ago. Next is Charlie, he was the Quidditch Captain, and he keeps dragons in Romania now. I've been once you know, he let me hold a baby dragon once, and it was the cutest thing ever. Next is Percy, He's a fifth year and a ponce, the opposite of the twins, who are two years ahead of me. They spend their days playing pranks and generally breaking rules. The last one is Ron, he's a year younger than me and totally obsessed with Quidditch, What about your family?"

Harry was absolutely flabbergasted that anybody could talk that fast. She shortly forgot her shyness. When she finished he was left with a completely new slew of questions for her, but the question brought him back to his sour reality.

Harry grimaced, "Well, there's not much to tell, I go to a nice school, make decent grades. What's Quidditch?"

Ginny eyed him with suspicion, there was something he wasn't telling her, but she chose to ignore it for the moment. "Quidditch is the greatest sport. You play on broom sticks and…"

After what had to have been an in depth, hour-long analysis of the sport that is Quidditch, Harry felt slightly overwhelmed. Yet again, the opening of their compartment door interrupted their conversation.

"Have you two seen a toad?" said the bossy bushy haired girl, "A boy has lost his and… my lord your Harry Potter aren't you, I've read all about you, you know."

He really didn't know, but he could guess. This girl seemed to be a studious girl, and of course quite bossy. Wait, there were books written about him?

"Well, it can't be too accurate, they never interviewed me, I just found out I was a wizard last month."

The girl seemed put out, "Well they don't really have to, and you were only a baby when you defeated You-Know-Who"

"Actually I don't know who, but thanks for warning me" Harry was getting peeved, but Ginny seemed more and more interested as she watched their byplay.

"Uh, boys are all the same," she sighed, and then turned to Ginny "You can come and sit with me and Neville in our compartment if you would like some mature conversation. Neville's a pureblood and he can really teach us some things about the wizarding world. I'm Hermione by the way, I'm a muggleborn"

Ginny colored with anger, but kept her cool, "actually I'm fine here with my friend Harry, he's also new to this world too, and since I'm also a pureblood, I'm answering his questions."

Hermione huffed and stomped out of their compartment, closing the door slightly harder than necessary.

"I don't want to seem rude, but I don't see me and her being best buds anytime soon." Harry said, as he shared a laugh with Ginny. He was quiet for a few seconds, "so you think of me as a friend, you weren't just saying that as an excuse not to go with her," He said uncertainly.

Ginny flushed, "No of course not, I like you well enough, and you're a pretty nice guy. You even found a way to insult the twins without provoking a comeback." Ginny looked down after saying so much, insecurity crept into her voice. "I mean, that is if you want to be my friend."

The sudden opening of the door cut his reply short. "You dears want anything off the lunch cart?" asked a nice aging woman pushing a cart filled with various goodies.

"No thanks, I've got sandwiches," replied Ginny as she pulled out a few rather squished corn beef sandwiches from her satchel.

Harry still had a few galleons from his trip to Gringotts. He began to look at her selection. He spent a few sickles on a range of various sweets. Bertie Botts every Flavor Bean, Licorice Wands, Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Fudge Flies, Pumpkin Pasties, and a few others. The pure amount of the things he bought astounded her, but was content with her sandwiches.

"So Ginny, want to trade a sandwich for some of this?" Harry asked her

"Oh no, I'm fine with these, you don't have to take pity or anything." She answered slightly put down as if she didn't believe she was turning him down and was trying to convince herself.

"Oh, but I want one of those. I'll give you half of my stack for one, please?" Harry pleaded with her

"Okay, if you really want to" Ginny said as she happily traded him a corn beef sandwich for a big pile of sweets. The children tore into their sweets hungrily. A little while later, Harry opened a Chocolate Frog. The frog leaped to the floor and hid under Ginny's seat.

"Oh, tough luck Potter, they only have one good bounce, but get the card first." Ginny said through a mouth full of Drooble's Best.

Harry sighed and pulled the card out of the bottom.

GREGORY LE ROUX

Gregory Le Roux was a French immigrant of the southwestern

Alps. He rose to power during the tyrannical reign of the evil wizard

Blackthorn. He was the legendary general of the Wars of Candor

Where he raised the wizards of Great Britain and Scotland to rebel

Against the dark wizard Blackthorn. It is said he was unable to destroy

Blackthorn

_but instead trapped him in the fabled Obsidian jar. It is said that _

On his

_Deathbed he entrusted the Obsidian Jar to his great nephew Godric_

Gryffindor for safekeeping.

"Wow, I've never seen that card, I bet my younger brother Ron would give you anything for that card." Ginny said awed

"Oh, well, do you want it, I'm not to keen on these anyway." Harry said holding the card out to her.

"No, every collection needs to start somewhere, I'll see if I can get you some doubles I have if you're interested." Ginny offered

Harry smiled, "I'd like that."

Ginny beamed back and they sat in companionable silence while they ate. Ginny was the first to break the silence. "So what house do you think you'll be in? I'm pulling for Gryffindor myself; it's the house of bravery you see. Though as long as I'm not a Slytherin I won't complain, they're the worst."

As if right on time the door slid open again, this time a blonde boy flanked by two large boys came in. The blonde boy spoke, "So it's true. Harry Potter has finally come to Hogwarts. It's also rumored he doesn't understand much about our world, I can see those rumors were correct" he said looking over at Ginny, "You see Potter, real wizards don't hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys, that's where I can help you, my name is Draco Malfoy and these two are Crabbe and Goyle." The blonde boy said, holding out his hand to Harry

Harry didn't know much about this boy, but he could tell he didn't like him when he came in, but when he insulted Ginny. If anything, the boy reminded him strangely of Dudley, coming in expecting respect from others, which he hadn't earned. Harry ignored the blonde boy's outstretched hand.

"I think I know exactly what kind of people are the right types. And I can definitely spot the riff-raff when I see it" Harry growled.

"Good," Malfoy perked up, "then maybe you would like to come join me in my compartment, we're currently talking about how little we will learn from that muggle lover at Hogwarts."

Harry could almost see someone else moving Draco's lips. His speech was so rehearsed that Harry doubted he had come by it alone, or even of he held it. Whether Malfoy truly meant what he was saying or not didn't matter much to Harry though. He wouldn't insult his first friend and get away with it. "Actually, I was talking about Ginny here. You would do good to learn to treat other with respect."

'Respect?" Malfoy scoffed at the foreign concept. "She certainly hasn't earned any by being such a blood traitor. What can I hope to learn from her?"

"Think what you may, but if you only respect people you agree with then you can't become stronger or smarter. you never grow." Harry explained the concept he had read from a muggle book once. He doubted Draco would listen, but he didn't see why he shouldn't make an effort.

"Fancy words from a half-blood." Malfoy turned appreciatively as his bulky guards laughed at his joke. "You chose your path today Potter, don't expect any friendship from me."

"We aren't much different Malfoy, don't try to paint it like I just made us enemies. You're walking the wrong way, all you have to do is turn around."

Harry watched as Malfoy's eyebrows furrowed and he turned away. He felt almost light after his conversation with Malfoy, he had poured so much of what he wanted to tell Dudley over the years into that conversation. He had almost lost Ginny's precense halway through the conversation.

"That was very profound." Ginny said as she came from her thoughts, "You sound a lot like my dad does sometimes. It's a good thing my brother Ron wasn't here, or he would have hit first and ruined any chance of him not hating you."

"You think I did good?" Harry asked uncertainly, he wasn't sure if there was such a thing as 'good conflict'.

"Of course Harry," she sounded almost offended as if he doubted her, "There were a bunch of really bad ways to handle that, and you didn't choose a single one."

His new friend made a bit of sense, Harry decided as he sat back down. "We need to learn how to lock this door or something, that was the tenth time we've been interrupted." Harry said, finally free from his intense anger

He earned a laugh as the compartment door opened again. Hermione poked her head through and informed them to put on their robes before they got to school, and then left to tell some others.

"I see what you mean Harry" Ginny laughed as she thre back a strand of hair behind her ear, "a locking spell would be very helpful."

Harry and Ginny laughed to themselves as they slipped their robes on over their uniform. The train came to an abrupt halt and they each waited for the hallway to clear of students, both not really wanting the train ride to be over.

"Harry," Ginny asked uncertainly, "Do you think this year will go well?"

"Of course Ginny," Harry smiled, "I've already made a friend, how could my year get any better?"

Ginny smiled warmly as they left their compartment. she was happy at the prospect of the new year, and excited to be spending it with her friend.


	3. Once upon a Feast

Chapter 3: Once Upon a Feast

As the train ride ended, Fred and George came to show Harry and Ginny where the first years met outside of the train.

"I don't know George; I just hope they don't have to wrestle a troll like we did." Fred said shooting concerned looks to his two minor compatriots, as if picking up on a conversation the had been having before the door opened.

"T-t-trolls" Ginny stuttered out "They made you face a full grown, thirteen foot tall mountain troll?"

"Not actually," comforted George, "It was a child Troll, only eight feet tall."

"We aren't really facing trolls are we?" Harry gasped, having remembered hearing starling scenes full of shrieking and growling in his few nights he had spent inside the cupboard listening to Dudley watch scary films. "They can't possibly expect us to know how to fight yet, can they?"

George turned his head in confusion, "Did you not practice your first year spells on the train?"

"Surely you read your books before coming to Hogwarts?" Fred turned to look at them.

Seeing how worried the twins were wasa starting to scare Harry even more, he turned and saw Ginny suddenly smirk.

The Twins burst into laughter at the looks on his face, but didn't tell him what exactly they were laughing at, only making him more nervous. Fred and George led them out onto Hogsmeade platform. Hermione was next to them murmuring some unimportant facts about the town and its history all the way back to its founding. Harry didn't pay much attention to her talk as he contempated what he was going to do about the troll. He didn't know what to expect. Ginny had said it was massivly tall, and at eight feet he was a bit smaller than Hagrid.

"Well here we are munchkins, just follow that real big guy over there screaming for first years, his name is Hagrid, he's the groundskeeper." George told them, not knowing that he and Harry had already been aquainted.

Fred added, "Hey Harry, Ginny's a shoo-in, but if you can get into Gryffindor, we have use for you in the Weasley business." He winked and left the end open for dramatic effect.

Harry nodded and they bid goodbye to the twins, stepping to the front of the queue for boats. Harry saw Hagrid over the sea of first years and shouted his greeting.

"Hey Hagrid," Harry called as he came near, remembering the man whom had helped him get his things in Diagon Alley.

"How ya' doin' Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, "Harry, you can come an' sit in the boat righ' nexta mine."

Harry swiftly followed behind the large man with Ginny at his side. Neville and Hermione joined them in the boat. Hagrid had a boat all to himself. The boat began automatically rowing. Almost immediately Harry found himself gazing upon one of the most beautiful sights he had seen. He saw a castle standing tall on a cliff, with towers that reached far higher than he had seen most buildings, outside of London.

"I'm glad to see you again 'arry." Hagrid began from the boat next to theirs.

"Thanks, I'm glad to see you so soon Hagrid. I'm sorry for being dumped on you in the pub the other day" Harry

"Don't you worry over it Harry, I was only happy to help ya'" Hagrid said, "Got a new friend out of it too, I did."

Harry nodded, Hagrid was a nice chap, but he was far happier he had made fast friends with the redhead sitting to his right.

"What did Hagrid help you with Harry?" asked Hermione as she took a glance between them before setting her piercing glare on Harry.

"He helped me get my school things from Diagon Alley." Harry answered quickly, "You see this professor named McGonagall originally had the job, but was called back to the school by the headmaster."

Ginny nodded her head in understanding, but Hermione seemed to have more questions. She obviously wanted to ask him more about his trip to Diagon Alley, but Hagrid's booming voice drowned her out.

"DUCK" shouted Hagrid as they approached a low cliff edge.

"Who does that great oaf think he is, commanding around a Malfoy like some kind of circus animal, when my father hears of this…" TWACK, "You bloody idiot!" Malfoy screamed, holding onto his horribly broken nose. "You shouldn't be giving commands without reasons, this is obviously your fault. When father hears about this..."

"Shut up back there, I told ya ta duck. Not my fault yer father couldn't buy a smarter child on toppa his freedom."

Malfoy was stunned into silence, and if everybody was quiet enough, it sounded an awful lot like someone was crying in the rear of the boat brigade.

Harry felt his stomach turn, he had seen Malfoy hit his nose on the cliff with just enough light that he doubted the picture of it nearly hanging off his face wouldn't be forgotten soon.

The boats began to pull into what seemed to be an underground harbor. They were probably far below the castle. The students began to file out of the newly tied up boats. Harry caught another glimpse of Draco and his severely bloody nose, and some suspiciously moist cheeks. Hagrid began checking the boats for left behind school supplies, finding none, but a toad which he tossed to Neville, he led them down a hallway and up several flights of stairs. They stopped at a large oak door with a big brass knocker the shape of a lion head, though not the size. Hagrid had barely knocked once before the door was wrenched open, and one of the sternest looking women any of the students had seen probably ever met them at the door. She was aging but still had mostly black hair, which she had pulled into a very tight bun, and emerald green robes. Harry of course recognized her as Professor McGonagall, the teacher who had taken him to 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall" said Hagrid with an exaggerated sweeping bow, his head still higher than McGonagall's.

"Thank you Hagrid, I shall take them from here" she replied as she swung the door wide open, and led them away. They followed the professor up many sets of winding stairs from what appeared to be the lowest of dungeons. After a full five-minute walk, they finally reached another heavy oak door. She threw the door open and led them into a small room. They filed into the room, giving very little wiggle room, the crowd of students pushed Harry up against Ginny, and he couldn't help but smell a strange flowery scent he hadn't smelt before. It was different from the flowers his Aunt Petunia had made him plant so many times, and much more pleasant.

McGonagall stopped them there and began to address them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, students," began Professor McGonagall "The feast will begin soon, but before you can take your place at your house tables in the Great Hall, you must all be sorted into your respected houses. The sorting ceremony will place you on a path to finding and realizing some of your greatest strengths, and also show you your most glaring weaknesses. A new family will be made of whichever students you find yourself sorted alongside. You will spend your classes with your house; you will study in your house common rooms, sleep in your dormitories, and possibly make most of you friends in your house. However do not let this system seperate you from each other. It has been in place for Millenia, but does not define who you are as a person. Make friends among the houses four, and never let petty squabbles keep you from uniting with the other houses. I have a feeling the class before me will be the one that changes everything and sits aside pettyness of the past, if you have the strength enough to allow yourselves" She paused to let this all sink in to the children in front of her.

The professor began again, "The four houses are: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin" she said; "Each house has its own noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are here at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn you house points, while any childishness or rule breaking will loss you house points. The prestigious House Cup will be awarded to which house has the most points, so please be courteous and try not to ruin it for the other students. Some of the students here have never had the sensation of being awarded the house cup. Now wait in this room while I check to see if the Hall is ready."

As Professor McGonagall left the room, all the students began talking almost immediately.

"I wonder what they do for the sorting," said an excited Hermione

"I heard we have to fight a full grown mountain troll," said one boy

"No, we have to wrestle a boomslang," said a frightened girl.

All the children became silent, each in thought about what disastrous obstacle they would have to overcome to be accepted into Hogwarts. Hermione was reciting every spell she had ever read, Crabbe and Goyle were stretching their muscles, and Harry was just growing paler by the minute… He had forgotten his wand in his trunk back on the train.

Professor McGonagall came back into the room moments later to collect them for the sorting, "This way if you please."

After they went through the door, they came into a large room. The Entrance Hall was so large you could have fit Harry's uncles house into it comfortably, 'even Dudley could move around freely in here' Harry laughed to himself 'well not that big, but still an exceptionally large'. Even some of the other students were surprised at the vastness.

"Wow"

"Oh my goodness, this entrance hall is vast"

"You do know that it took them three years to build just the entrance hall? I read it in 'Hogwarts a History'"

"Oh my" said Ginny from beside Harry, "Bill and Charlie mentioned, but I thought they were kidding. They told me it could fit the whole of the Burrow into it."

"The Burrow?" Harry asked uncertainly

"Oh, it's what we call our home; I don't know exactly why we call it that, we just always have, I guess." Answered Ginny quietly, obviously still amazed at the size of the hall.

"Oh, so your family is in Hufflepuff?" Asked Hermione from the other side of Harry

"No, they're all Gryffindors," Ginny answered quickly "why would you think they are Hufflepuffs?"

"It's just that a Hufflepuffs house animal is the badger, according to what I read in 'Hogwarts a History', and badgers live in small holes in the ground or the side of a hill, called burrows," replied Hermione, obviously not expecting any fault in her logic.

"Well the twins are quite odd" Harry observed, "And they must have gotten the gene from somewhere, it may just be a random name her father came up with."

Hermione seemed rather put off by them shunning her logic "Oh, I see, but 'Hogwarts a History' mentioned that Helga Hufflepuff had red hair, which is a recessive trait, you could be a descendent, or…"

The opening of the doors effectively silenced her from further questioning. The sound of the children in the Great Hall grew quiet as they began to walk into the hall to the sorting. There were four house tables full of students, all staring at the newcomers with either joy or annoyance. Harry first noticed the ceiling had the look of the outside sky. The stars shone down and it was cloudless.

"The ceiling is enchanted to look like the outside sky. It was in 'Hogwarts a History' which I've read twice," Said Hermione from just in front of him. Harry thought the constant facts getting old very old very quickly. Judging by the looks on the faces of his fellow classmates, they shared his sentiments.

McGonagall led them to the front of the Great Hall where she sat a small stool down in the center of the front. Upon the stool, she then set down a tattered old hat on the stool. It was still for a while, but then a rip appeared on the brim of the hat and it began singing. The song was nice enough, but the hat could sure use some singing lessons. It sounded worse than his aunt Petunia when she sang that 'Madonna' music in the shower. Harry visibly shook, not a comforting thought.

She lined them up to the left and unrolled a list of almost thirty five names. She then began to call out the names. Harry was worried tremendously. Apparently, this hat would decide if he would get into Hogwarts, or if he was sent packing back to the Dursleys. He knew Ginny would be sorted into Gryffindor, and that is most definitely, where he wanted to end up. He had made his first friend, not only in the Wizarding world, but also in his life. He did not want to lose her because some silly singing hat was a bit meticulous.

The first few students had been sorted, and soon it was his turn to be sorted. Professor McGonagall came to his name.

"Potter, Harry" she announced

The entire halls eyes were upon him. People were whispering for a while before he found the courage to step up. He sat on the stool and placed the hat on his head.

"Ah Mr. Potter, I have been waiting for you," said the hat

"Me, sir?" Harry replied cautiously

"Of course, now lets take a look through you head… What do you mean a bad singer; I'll have you know I have been singing for over almost a thousand years. Children have no taste in true talent!" The hat raged

"Um, can we get on with the sorting?" thought Harry

"Oh yes," the hat said dismissively "Well, I must forget that for now. Now, hmmm, you have great courage indeed. Loyal to a fault. Not the smartest, I guess it's not Ravenclaw. You hate the recognition you've received so far, Slytherin not a good choice at all. Hmm, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor?"

"Please be Gryffindor, I won't make fun of your singing anymore just please be Gryffindor." Pleaded Harry silently

"Gryffindor, eh? Oh, I see now: The desire to be in Gryffindor to be with a friend proves beyond a doubt you belong in Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff it is then"

"No I'm begging you. How can i prove that I belong in Gryffindor?" Harry thought desperately

"Oh Harry, how very cunning of you. Maybe I should reconsider on Slytherin."

The sorting of Harry had attracted many people and he realized that he had been in front of this crowd for almost a minute, and he hated every minute of it. Harry was growing exasperated.

After the most convincing argument, Harry could think of, saying please. The hat finally perked up and all eyes shifted back to Harry as the hat shouted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers went up from the Gryffindor table as the students stood and clapped and yelled loudly. Other students seemed very displeased they had missed out on the famous Harry Potter.

Harry hurried over to the Gryffindor Table and found a seat near the twins, leaving an open seat for Ginny. The congratulations we received as he walked down the table were sure to leave a bruise on his sore back. When he reached his seat, he was congratulated by the twins on a spectacular sorting.

Harry turned his attention back to the sorting and watched the sorting of some more hopeful students. Finally, the hat came to Ginny and just about ten seconds after it touched her, the hat chuckled and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR! She smiled very wide, a slight blush evident on her face, and rushed down the table to Harry and her brothers. She flew into Harry a giving a quick hug and saying "Told Ya" before she down between him and the twins. Harry of course was bright red at receiving his first hug, luckily Ginny didn't notice. Hermione Granger, who had somehow escaped Ravenclaw, was eyeing them from across the table, with a look of what may have been jealousy, but it passed as the Headmaster began to speak.

"Good evening all and welcome to another splendid year at magical Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. I would like to begin by congratulation our new students with quite an interesting sorting." There was scattered and slightly reluctant applause. "I would also like to welcome our new Defense Against the Arts teacher, Professor Randolph Henderson"

The hall applauded for the new teacher, an elderly looking man, who could have given Dumbledore a run for his money in age.

"Yes, may he have more luck than the last. Finally, I implore all students new and old to stay away from the Forbidden Forest as it is in fact forbidden, more so this year than ever before. Punishment will be severe to anyone found in the forest, no exceptions. With this long speech finally behind, let the feast begin with the traditional words of old. Hicky, Bicky, Boo."

As Dumbledore finished speaking, the plates in front of them filled with food of many kinds, and he sat down and began to fill his own plate. Having never been allowed much to eat, Harry piled his plate and began to scarf his food.

Ginny sat next to him slowly chewing a carrot. "No one is going to take your food away Harry. You eat like my brother Ron."

Around them, a couple of conversations were going on. A boy named Dean Thomas was having a conversation with his new friend Seamus Finnegan about his heritage. Hermione was prattling more nonsense from Hogwarts a History, and looking quite sour when she seemed to notice that no one was listening, and became silent as she ate. Harry wasn't the only one to notice her sudden depression, when another Gryffindor first year he thought named Devon tried to ask her about Hogwarts. She brightened up instantly and began her narrative again.

"Brave boy," said Ginny from next to him "He must have sisters."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked through a mouthful of Sheppard's Pie.

"That kid talking to Hermione, he has the same look I get when mum talks about things I couldn't care less about, like cooking. He's not interested but is trying to make her feel good."

"Oh, well then I agree. He is brave"

Harry and Ginny shared a laugh as they finished their meals. Dumbledore stood to address the hall. After some end of the year announcements and a disastrous singing of the school song, they began to make their way up to the common room.

"You all have but one hour until I expect you in bed; you'll find your things in your rooms. Make haste," shouted Ginny's older brother Percy

"I guess we should head up to bed, huh," asked Ginny

"Yes Ginny, We shall make haste. First I want to go check my things, then I'll be back down." Harry said. Ginny giggled and nodded whilst Harry headed up to the dorm-room marked 'First Years' and went in. The dorm was about five times as big as the room he had stayed in at the Dursleys; the four-poster beds were humongous.

Harry smiled and took a running jump onto the bed that had his trunk on it. Just as he thought, no broken springs. This is when Harry noticed he was not alone in the room. The boy that had been talking to Hermione, Devon he thought, was in the bed next to him unpacking his things.

"Having fun?" Devon laughed, "I didn't get to introduce myself at the feast, my name is Devon Creed. And of course you're Harry Potter." He finished holding out his hand, which Harry shook.

"But if you know me you must be from a Wizarding family?" Harry questioned

"Yeah, the Creeds are an old pure blood family. One of the oldest, though not richest." Devon answered

"Then why were you asking Hermione all those questions about the Wizarding world?"

"Because she has a lot of knowledge, and a need to share it. I had the time to listen as I ate. Actually, it was interesting hearing from a muggleborn point of view. You'll learn the best way to get on with women is to just nod and shake your head." Devon said with a smile, "My mum raised me, so I have the insight in women. Don't worry I'll stay away from yours." He winked and headed to the washroom.

Harry blushed as he rummaged though his trunk and new school things while thinking of his previous conversation. He didn't know if he exactly liked Devon, what did he mean 'he'd stay away from 'his girl''. Harry didn't have a girl. It was all very confusing. He checked to make sure everything was there and unpacked. Once finished, he began his decent downstairs to find the Common Room empty but for a few people.

"I thought you weren't coming back down." Ginny said, "I almost fell asleep on the couch."

"That would be comfortable wouldn't it?" Harry asked as he sat down next to her. "I wouldn't even think about going to bed without saying goodnight to my best friend."

Ginny blushed, "I'm your best friend?"

"You bet you are; now I think we should probably head to bed."

Ginny nodded and walked to her staircase as Harry did the same. She got up the first few steps and turned around.

"Good night Harry"

"Good night Ginevra"

Harry ran the rest of the way up the stairs, dodging whatever it was she had thrown. He lay down in his bed and smiled at the ceiling. Hogwarts was going to be fun.


	4. An Unhappy Birthday

Chapter 4: An Unhappy Birthday

Harry woke up to a strange sensation, comfort. He remembered the past day and the changes. He had done it. He always knew he was different when he lived with the Dursleys, but he had always dreamed he was different in a good way. Then he was whisked off to Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. It felt wonderful. He also had a friend.

When he met Ginny Weasley on the train, he thought that she was just another pretty girl that wouldn't ever give him the time of day. Not only was he wrong, but also she seemed to have the same concerns that he did. In the span of the day they had progressed to being best friends. He hoped they picked up were they left off, that she hadn't decided her dorm mates were more interesting than plain old Harry. This friendship thing was so difficult and foreign to him, he almost wished he had a book about it.

Harry got out of bed to see all his dorm mates were still sleeping. He dressed in his new robe and uniform. He sat on a couch by the fireplace in the nearly empty common room and began to read from his potions book. He hardly noticed a certain redhead sit down right next to him.

"Good morning" Ginny said brightly

"Morning Gin, Was someone snoring?" Harry asked, "You're up early."

"Well, Mum had me up just after dawn everyday to help cook breakfast. I was never any good, but Mum wanted to teach me. What your excuse?" Ginny said, blushing at his nickname for her.

"I had to get up early to fix my relatives breakfast." Harry laughed, "I don't think they know how to cook for themselves. They'll probably starve without me there"

"Sometimes I think the same of my brothers." Ginny laughed, "If Mum didn't love to cook so much; I don't think I'd have as many brothers as I do, they always seem to…"

Whatever Ginny had been saying halted as a few students came down and hurried off to breakfast. She was about to continue when Hermione Granger burst though the Portrait Hole.

"I've just come back from the library. I went to check if you needed a library card, and good news, you don't. I've already checked out a book on Hogwarts customs." Hermione said excitedly

"That's, um, great. Well, Ginny and I were going to err, breakfast. I guess we'll see you later" Harry said

"Oh wait up, I'll put my book away and be right down" Hermione said running off

"She is persistent isn't she" Ginny whispered as Hermione came back down the stairs.

"She just wants a friend." Harry said, feeling a strange sense of protection of Hermione.

They headed towards breakfast; while Hermione rambled on amorously about the book she had checked out. As interesting as Harry and Ginny made it, the conversation kept shifting back to some book of another. This continued all the way to the Great Hall. At the bottom of one of the staircases, however, they came to a fork as Hermione started towards the right.

"Hermione, the Great Hall is this way" Harry called as he and Ginny headed left.

"No, I'm completely certain it's this way. We passed that statue of the one eyed witch on the way up last night." Hermione answered

"No, we walked right past the portrait of the 'backwards man, backwards man' down this way." Ginny chimed in

"Well fine, you two go your way and get hopelessly lost while I eat my fill. I'll make sure to pick up your time tables for you, and some toast if you're lucky." Hermione said angrily as she walked off to the right.

Harry sighed as he and Ginny went left. "You know, she's going to get lost." Ginny said as they walked down a flight of stairs and turned right, then left.

"Yeah, but she's probably smart enough to find her way to Gryffindor tower eventually." Harry replied as they took another left. "It's just straight up.

"Or the library," Ginny giggled, "I bet she can smell all those books from far off somehow."

Harry laughed as they went down another flight of stairs and they walked down an unfamiliar hallway. They continued in companionable silence for a while until Harry began to get worried.

"Um Ginny, shouldn't we be there by now?" asked Harry uncertainly as they continued down the corridor for what seemed like half an hour.

"I don't know, I think" Ginny said, "Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't enjoy being lost with Harry Potter…"

"But its worse that Hermione was right about which way to go" said Harry, smartly choosing to ignore the jest at his notoriety. "So hopelessly lost in the halls of a strange magical school that I've never explored and all I can think about is missing that great breakfast I was sure to have."

Harry didn't know why he was being so open with this new girl, but he felt he already knew her better than any girl he had ever gone to school with. He even felt she knew him better than his Aunt Petunia knew him, which wasn't a big stretch by any means.

Ginny didn't know why she was being so open with this new boy, let alone the great Harry Potter. He made her feel like an equal; he never talked down to her like her older brothers, or even her younger brother. She felt he understood her better than her younger brother Ron did, whom she'd grown up with, which wasn't a big stretch by any means.

Ginny's reply to Harry's comment about missing breakfast, which surely would have been a comparison with her piggy brothers, was cut off by a cackle a little ways down the hall. As they continued walking down the hall an apparition of some sort floated around the corner. Before them was a small floating man with wicked, dark eyes and a pointed hat. In his hands was what must have been all of the toilet paper out of the bathroom he had just come out of.

"Wee firsties lost are we," He said as he unceremoniously threw the toilet paper out of the window he was next too.

"Yeah we took a wrong turn after we left GryffindorTower." Harry said eying the tiny many cautiously.

The small man grinned widely as Harry talked, "Gryffindors are you? Well, don't worry, Peeves will show you to someone who can help you get to breakfast, just you follow Peeves." Peeves started flying back down the hall. Harry turned to Ginny and they both shrugged their shoulders and ran to catch up with Peeves.

Peeves led them at a grueling pace through hallways, staircases, and passageways through the walls. Harry and Ginny were both panting to keep up with the poltergeist, but every time they got close Peeves sped up again. They followed him at a run for what must have been ten minutes before he stopped suddenly at a section of decorative carpet lying on the floor. He pulled up the carpet revealing a trap door. Opening it up revealed a giant slide with darkness at the end.

"I must leave you here firsties, places to go and all that" said Peeves, "just slide down and walk left. It's the third door on the right, just ask for help to the Great Hall, got all that?" Peeves asked, after receiving their nods he floated off to whatever business he had mentioned.

Harry looked down the tube skeptically, "Should we trust him Ginny?"

Ginny thought it over, "Well, Dumbledore is the greatest and goodliest wizard of all time; he wouldn't let them keep a bad ghost in Hogwarts would he?"

Harry just shook his head and jumped down, trusting her judgment, Ginny was not far behind as they flew out of the mouth of a snake sculpture and sliding across the floor. Getting up and shaking out the kinks, they looked around the hallways that were so drank and dreary they must have been in the dungeons. Upon standing Ginny moved involuntarily closer to Harry.

"Well, I guess we should head left." Said Harry, he was taking the narrow hallways a lot better than Ginny was, obviously from growing up in a cupboard.

They began walking left and counting the doors to the right as they passed them, when they reached the third door Ginny knocked on the door, the sound reverberating loudly in the hallway. A few seconds later the door was thrown open, revealing a tall greasy haired man with a large sneer on his face.

"Um, excuse me sir, we were wondering if you could help us find our way to the Great Hall, we lost our way coming down from the tower-"

"Clearly" said the disgruntled professor, upon seeing Harry's scar his sneer seemed to grow larger, if possible. "Tell me Potter, is it too hard to walk down a flight of stairs until you reach the first floor. Surely you must know that all stairs lead to the Entrance Hall eventually, or did you wish for me to carry you, after all the famous Boy Who Lived deserves only the best."

Harry was completely at a loss for words, but unfortunately for the Gryffindor House Point jar, Ginny wasn't.

"Excuse me _sir_," she snapped, "but you can't possibly believe we came down her just to bother you, if we'd known who Peeves sent us to find. I assure you we would have rather gone hungry."

The teacher's glare picked up ferocity, and he looked down right dangerous. "That'll be twenty points from Gryffindor. Now get out of my dungeons." He nearly yelled as he nearly slammed the door.

"Well, I guess were on our own now." Harry said as he began walking back the way they had come from. "By the way, thanks, you know, for back there. No ones ever exactly stood up for me before."

"Oh it was nothing, He was being a bully and you definitely didn't deserve any of that. I don't even care that I lost house points, it was worth it." Ginny said

Harry could almost see steam coming from her ears and her face matched the color of her hair, and there was that smell again. As he was looking he walked straight into a suit of armor. The sound of the armor crashing to the ground reverberated so loudly in the dungeons that he and Ginny had to cover their ears in hopes of keeping their ear drums intact. Ginny helped a blushing Harry to his feet as a poorly dressed old man came sprinting down the hall towards them.

"Ah, some first years thought they'd make some trouble for me while the others were at the feast, thought you'd have ol' Filch off guard did yah, while you wrecked the dungeons. Thought I'd be having a lay in on the first day of school, no sirée, I have to be vigilant to catch you troublemakers. Now you come right this way we'll see you get the proper punishment." Filch said as he led them off.

Harry was completely surprised by this new man as he came up to them, this must have been the Filch that Dumbledore had mentioned last night. As he and Ginny walked behind Filch up the stairs to the Entrance Hall, they became steady more worried until neither could talk, all the while listening to Filch rant about evil first years and hanging troublemakers by their pinky toes.

Filch threw the Great Hall doors open and walked in. At first glance it looked as if Breakfast was nearing its end. Most student were done eating and talking, and there was Hermione sitting there looking incredible smug. The quiet of the Hogwarts morning was about to be shattered by a very disgruntled caretaker.

"Dumbledore," Filch yelled as they were halfway up the aisle, "I demand these students be expelled."

Harry heart was in his throat and his eyes stung… expelled?

Dumbledore's face however didn't change, almost as if he was used to this. "Good morning Argus, have you slept well?"

"You heard me Headmaster; I demand these students be expelled." Filch screamed again, with no doubt the attention of the entire hall.

"What have my students done to harm you Argus," said McGonagall, sitting straighter in your chair. "Surely these first years on their first day have not done sufficient damage to require expulsion"

"I found them in the dungeon defacing school property by knocking over historic suits of armor at their leisure."

"We were not." Ginny protested

"Yeah, I accidentally ran into a suit of armor and knocked it over." Harry said, hoping they wouldn't ask why he wasn't paying attention. A blush crept on his cheeks; one that Harry wanted no one to notice. Dumbledore happened to notice this, and most likely put the pieces together.

"You see Argus, no harm was done. I see it fit to only warn them this time." Dumbledore said while waving his hand motioning the children to take their seats, which they gladly did.

They heard Filch still arguing his case and ultimately stomping off while muttering under his breath about 'those damn Weasleys'. They took the only seats open, two at the end of the table next to Hermione. They passed Devon, who was shaking his head and laughing, obviously at their expense, but whether it was because of Filch or Hermione, who could say. They took the seats across from Hermione, Harry in front of and Ginny at her diagonal. No sooner had they set down then did Hermione give them the 'I told you so' speech.

"You guys should have followed me when I told you which way it was; I have a photographical memory after all. And don't worry I got these for you" she said handing them their schedules. "You should hurry up and eat; we only have a few minutes. I'm going to head on to our next class; I don't want to be late. Please don't get lost again, I don't feel like picking up your assignments as well."

Hermione got up and walked off. When she left, Devon moved from a few seats down to sit in her recently vacated seat.

"She's a bit much, huh." Devon said as he sat down.

"You don't even know." Ginny nearly yelled, "She followed us from the tower, and had the nerve to say I told you so because we went the wrong way on our first day here. She's acts worse then my Mum, I just can't-"

"Whoa, calm down. I'd like to keep my ear drums intact." Devon said with his fingers in his ears for comical effect. "All I can say is: Wow, you've got one hell of a temper; future boyfriends aren't likely to last long. Don't say I didn't warn you Harry."

Ginny giggled at Harry's stunned face. Devon chuckled and left for class.

Harry somewhat regained his composure, "Well, you do have a scary temper."

"Oh you don't even know the half of it Potter..."

They spent the next few minutes wolfing down as much eggs and bacon as they could before they were shooed from the Great Hall and onto their first class. On the way out they listened as Percy scolded his sister on breaking the rules, while the twins congratulated them on a job well done. Harry, however, just kept silently wishing that he never knew the half of it.

Their first class was Charms. It was an okay class, Harry of course sat next to Ginny, and Hermione next to them. Their cold shoulder didn't seem to affect Hermione, she didn't seem to notice.

The class was purely an introduction to the theory behind Charms. Their classes continued on in much the same way that day, culminating in a marvelous Hogwarts feast for dinner. It was all going well until Thursday afternoon when they had their first Potions class. Their dreadful teacher Snape was calling roll to begin his class. He of course stopped on Harry's name.

"Potter, did you by any chance get enough attention in the Great Hall the other day?" Snape sneered darkly at Harry, "I would have been there to see it first hand, but some idiotic student interrupted me while making a very complicated potion, which simmered over while I was addressing his foolishness."

"He wasn't alone you know, I was there too." Ginny cried out from next to Harry

"Ah yes," said Snape slowly "Potters lap dog, that will be another five points from Gryffindor."

The rest of the class advanced in much the same way. Twelve snide remarks and thirty seven points later they left the dungeons.

The next morning they had Transfiguration first thing. They had followed Hermione down to the Great Hall, as they had done every day after their disastrous first day.

Hermione of course took this in stride. She took to leading them to all her classes. After breakfast they walked to the transfiguration classroom. When they got there Harry saw a cat sitting on the desk, but no Professor McGonagall. Harry made his way over to the desk next to Ginny. They waited for five or so minutes and there was no teacher. Harry grew bored and walked up to the teachers desk were the cat was sitting and began to pet it. The cat purred and rolled over onto its back as Harry pet its stomach.

Some of the girls in the classroom were oohing and ahing at the cute cat. Then suddenly the cat turned over and hissed at Harry. Harry backed away confused and returned to his seat.

"Maybe she doesn't like being petted?" said Ginny as the cat sat up again.

The cat jumped off the table and transformed midair into the missing professor.

"No, I don't think she does Ginny, but maybe Harry can get extra credit?" Devon laughed from behind them.

Professor McGonagall looked absolutely mortified as she began the lesson. By the end of the class no one had been able to transfigure the pin into a needle. Not that Harry could give it all his thought to begin with.

"Shameless Harry, utterly shameless" Devon said shaking his head.

"What are you talking about?" Harry said as he picked up his school things.

"There are better ways to get extra credit."

The next night Harry sat in the Common Room with Ginny reading for Transfiguration.

"So you have to wave your wand a certain way to turn the straw into being a needle, or is it all in how much magic or…" Ginny said holding her head.

"Huh, I thought you just had to say the words right. I'm getting a headache; I'm going to head up to bed. Goodnight Ginny" Harry said as he hugged Ginny goodnight, unknowingly being watched by a bushy bookworm from across the room.

Harry headed up the stairs to his dorm. Devon was the only one in there as he was riffling though his stuff. He saw Harry come in holding his head "What's the matter Harry, she talking your head off?"

"No, Transfiguration essay" said Harry as he changed into his nightclothes. "It's a nightmare, it's about how to transfigure a straw into a needle, and Ginny thinks it's the wand movement, I think it's the words."

"Well, your both wrong, you just have to want it to be done and it just happens." replied Devon, "You got a quill; I've seemed to have misplaced my last one?"

"Yeah, have this one," said Harry tossing him the one he had tucked over his ear "I don't ever want to see one of those again, ever"

Devon laughed as he took the quill, "Thanks Harry. See ya, got an essay to write."

School the next week was almost completely filled with essays. Fred and George later told them their year was busy as well; they had no time to include Ginny in 'the family business'. The peace was not broken until the next Friday.

The next Friday started out like the last Friday had, a busy day full of essays, they still weren't scheduled to learn actual magic for another month. While most of their problems up to this point had been physical, they hadn't prepared for this.

Harry and Ginny were poking around the castle. As they walked past the empty classroom on the fourth floor they heard someone crying from inside. When they walked in they saw Hermione sitting at a desk crying her eyes out.

"Hermione, what's wrong, was it Malfoy again?" asked Ginny moving to sit in the desk next to her, Harry took the desk in front of her and turned it around.

"What do you two care, you've been avoiding me since you got here." Hermione cried out.

"No we haven't" He knew they had. "We've just been busy with work and other things."

"Yeah, I know all about those other things. You two were best friends since you met. I've never had friends at my old school; they always made fun of me for being smart. I've had nobody. When I was told I was a witch, I thought I was coming to a whole new world full of studious wizards and witches. Where I'd be accepted and popular, but It's the exact same as my old school, they only teach magic here."

"Hermione, you have plenty of friends here-" Ginny started

"No I don't. No one has even taken the time to wish me a Happy Birthday today" Hermione was bawling at this point. They had not known it was her birthday.

"Hermione, we had no idea it was your birthday, you hadn't told us! If I had known I'd at least have gotten you a new book or something." Harry consoled

"And I would have at least made you a card," Ginny added, "I might have even spelled your name with glitter."

Hermione let out a small laugh, "Really? You're not just saying that, you would have got me something?"

"We would have. We are friends, aren't we?" Harry asked

"I don't know, are we?" Hermione looked hopeful

"Of course we are," affirmed Ginny

Hermione chuckled

"What is it now Hermione?" Harry asked innocently

"I'm just so blessed, my own card with glitter!"

And so they were, the next few weeks they formed a shaky friendship. They sat with each other in the common room, Hermione helped them with their homework, and they didn't avoid her. They each ended up getting her a belated birthday present; it was received with yet more tears. Hermione was also spending a little time every day with Neville, helping him with his work, which ended up working pretty well, Hermione liked to boss people around, and Neville was okay with being bossed around. Life at Hogwarts was looking up. That was until two exalted pranksters wished to cause a little trouble.


	5. Initiation

**Bulletin: All chapters before this one have been re-written. I suggest old readers re-read as there were big changes.**

A/N: Contrary to popular belief, I do not hate Hermione. I actually really enjoy her character, and I'm probably torturing Hermione fans out their. The role she takes in this chapter will be the role I have her in for a while though. I hope you are pleased.

-*-

Chapter 5: Initiation

The next few weeks were the same as the first two, hard. The class work had doubled and, barring Transfiguration, they hadn't done any spells yet. Snape had not let up in potions class, though redirecting most of his criticism on Neville. Neville was atrocious at Potions, as they had found out the previous week.

"Longbottom, are you completely incapable of a simple Boil Cure Potion, one of the simplest potions there is to make." Snape had chosen to denigrate Neville this day instead of Harry. His partner, Ginny, had helped her mother make this potion for her older brother Charlie plenty of times, thus there wasn't much wrong with theirs.

This was the day that Snape had discovered Neville was much more entertaining to pester than Harry, who never reacted to his yelling, being used to it via his uncle. Neville on the other hand was a gold mine. Neville got redder with every comment Snape made, and always ended up ruining Hermione's perfect potion. This particular class Snape had given her and Neville a zero, prompting her to run out of the classroom crying.

"Potter, when you see her next, tell her that'll be ten points for leaving class early." Snape snarled as he retook his seat and class ended and Neville also rushed out of the room.

"Alright, gameplan. Lavender, you go get Hermione and I'll go talk to Neville." Devon said to his partner as they left the room.

*-*

The talk had obviously turned out well because Hermione and Neville were at lunch. Which was relatively peaceful until a certain blonde boy walked up to their table, flanked by his lackeys of course.

"So Potter, ready to make a fool of yourself?" Malfoy said getting laughs from Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry signed annoyedly; Malfoy came to taunt him almost daily. "What is this time Malfoy?"

Malfoy grinned, "You won't be so cocky in the air Potter, or did you forget our first flying lesson is tomorrow?"

Harry had "Of course not Malfoy, and I can't wait to fly circles around you" He knew he sounded pretty cocky, but he couldn't let Malfoy win.

Malfoy seemed put out not getting the desired effect and only mustered a "We'll see Potter" as he and his goons stalked back to the Slytherin table.

Harry was quiet for awhile, "Ginny?"

"Yes Harry?"

"I don't know how to fly" He said dejectedly, "Malfoy's going to make a fool of me isn't he?"

Ginny grinned "Now Harry; that is something I can help you with, after dinner we'll go out to the pitch."

"But we don't have brooms; first years can't bring them to school." Harry was filled with disappointment, clearly visible on his face.

Ginny's face also fell, which is where our favorite twins decided to sit down with them, "We hear someone is in need of a pair of brooms."

Harry grew excited; "You would let me and Ginny borrow your brooms tonight to practice flying!"

"Don't be absurd Harry; we'd think nothing of it. In fact, we insist you two take our brooms for the night." Fred said, smiling at his twin.

"You guys really would?" Ginny questioned happily, until her face fell in distrust, "Wait a minute, what's the catch?"

The twins looked hurt, "Dear sister we are mortified that you would think us so low that we would put a price on our own protégé borrowing a meaningless piece of equipment."

"Cut to it, what do you want?" Ginny said eying the twins carefully, "Were not trying any of your food. By the way Harry, never try any of their food."

The twins held each others gaze for a moment before George spoke, "You guys have a free period tomorrow morning right?"

Ginny pulled up her bag to look for her schedule, but Harry answered for her, "Yeah right before Transfiguration and Flying class. What, you haven't memorized your schedule?" Harry asked when Ginny turned to look questioningly at him.

Fred laughed, "Just like a woman Harry, anyways, we'll bring you our brooms to dinner tonight and let you use them to your hearts content. We'll discuss payment tomorrow during your free period."

"But don't you have a class during our free period?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, but I'm sure Flitwick won't miss us, see you tonight kiddies." Fred and George got up and left the hall.

*-*

_Later at dinner:_

"As promised, here you are." Said George as he and Fred handed them their brooms.

"Now remember, tomorrow morning we meet in the common room. We'll discuss payback then." Fred finished.

"Thanks guys, we'll remember. Seriously though, no food." Ginny reiterated as she dragged Harry off towards the pitch.

Once outside she began to instruct Harry in the sport from Queerditch Marsh.

"Now Harry, put your broom down on the ground and stand next to it." Ginny instructed as she did the same. "Then put your hand over it and say up."

Harry did as he was told and the broom literally jumped into his hand, much faster than Ginny's did to her hand. Harry was taken aback and Ginny was outright shocked.

"I don't get it," Ginny puzzled, "It took me several tries the first time I did it."

"Why exactly do we have to make the broom go to us, don't you just sort of, I dunno, kick off?" asked Harry as he mounted the broom.

Ginny mounted hers as well, "I have no idea, that's just how my mum taught me."

"Your Mum taught you?"

Yeah, she caught me sneaking into the broom shed one day" Ginny grinned at the memory "she figured I was going to do it anyway, so she might as well teach me so that I don't break my neck. Now Harry, concentrate, this is the fun part. Kick off the ground, watch first."

Harry watched as Ginny gracefully kicked off the ground and flew a small circle around Harry's head, "Now you try."

And try he did, Harry gave a hard push and pulled up on the broom rocketing into the sky. Harry world turned upside down at that moment; maybe it was the wind in his hair, the joy in his stomach, or the fact that he was actually upside down. Whatever it was, he liked it. He righted himself on his broom from his previous upside down position and flew to where Ginny was.

"So, how'd I do?" Harry asked pulling up beside her.

"Wow Harry, you're a natural. I don't think there is much I could teach you. Maybe we should fly around the pitch and you can get the hang of turning and such." Ginny turned and began to fly slowly along the wall.

Harry smirked and shot past her, obviously challenging her to a race. Ginny was no slouch and sped up to catch him. Harry turned and saw her approaching and swerved in front of her. The lap continued this way until Ginny decided to go under him instead. Unprepared for the sudden move, and unintelligible of how to react just leaned forward on his broom and willed it to speed faster.

Ginny was directly below him, also pushing for all the speed she could muster. As both brooms were the same type, the top speed was the same. As a result they flew two laps around the pitch completely neck and neck the whole way. As if telepathically, they both slowed simultaneously and flew back to the center of the pitch.

Ginny landed first, "Well, I really don't think you have to do anything else. You fly like that tomorrow and Malfoy will be picking his jaw up off the ground."

Harry landed and dismounted, "Yeah lets hope. We should probably be heading in; it's getting pretty dark out here."

Ginny nodded and they began walking off the pitch. No sooner had they left the pitch than Hagrid approached them.

"Harry, what're you doing out here past curfew?" Hagrid asked, slightly worriedly.

"We were just our practicing flying, sir, we swear." Ginny asked, and then looked at Hagrid's bleeding arm that wasn't carrying his crossbow and gasped.

Harry saw it too, "Hagrid, what happened to your arm?"

"Now, don't you two worry bout me, I'll be fine, but if Filch catches ya out here he'll have a hay day, let me walk you back to the tower." Hagrid said as he walked towards the castle.

"Hagrid you need to get that looked at, was it something in the forest that did that?"

"Don't you worry bout it little Ginny, just a stray curse is all. I'm on my way to see Madame Pomfrey after I drop you kids off."

"No Hagrid, we should be walking you to the Hospital Wing. Wait, what do you mean a stray curse?" Ginny said as they walked up the first flight of stairs.

"No, ya heard me wrong I said tree branch. And I don't mind taking ya up firs'. In turn you can visit me fur tea sometime."

"That'll be great Hagrid," said Harry sensing they wouldn't get anymore out of him, "We'll come by on Tuesday, won't we Gin?

"Yeah, we will." Ginny replied as they reached the Fat Lady and gave the password, "Thanks for the help Hagrid, hurry to Madame Pomfrey."

"It's no problem you two. Tuesday, I'll be waiting." Hagrid walked away down the nearest flight of stairs.

Ginny watched him go and turned to the side, "Harry"

Harry met her gaze, "Yeah Gin"

Ginny sighed, "He really did say stray curse"

"I know he did, goodnight Ginevra"

Harry smartly chose to sleep with one eye open.

-*-

Ginny woke up the next morning and went down to the Common Room to find Fred and George in the corner talking with Harry. Fred had a strange potion in his hand.

Ginny ran up to Fred, "I thought I said no food."

George grinned at his twin, "Don't worry sis, we were just showing him the ropes."

Ginny eyed the twins carefully, "So what's this big favor you have."

George thought, "Don't think of it as a favor, but more as an initiation, you might say."

"Initiation?" asked Harry obviously slightly wary of the idea.

George started "As the master pranksters we are, even we find ourselves behind schedule and we are in a jam and needing an extra hand or two."

"After all, great pranksters come in pairs." Fred finished grinning at his twin. "And we think that us two groups of hardcore pranksters could work together on something big."

"Something big? Like turning Malfoys hair green?" Ginny inquired.

Fred laughed, "You think so small little sis. We mean a bit bigger."

They looked to Harry, "Um, I dunno. We could degrease Snapes hair, I guess."

"No Harry, but that would be quite amusing, Harry. But we were thinking of bigger things. Much bigger."

"Oh get on with it you two. What's the plan you two?" Ginny was becoming impatient.

Before Fred and George could respond, a mass of chattering students came in though the portrait hole.

"Ah, class is over. Well, George and I had better be going. Snape won't be nearly as forgiving as Flitwick. Meet us down here at curfew." Fred walked away with George by his side.

"Should we trust them," Ginny asked as she and Harry walked towards the stairs to go and get their things for their next class.

"Would life be any fun if we didn't?" Harry replied as he walked up his staircase to the boy's dormitory. He gathered his Transfiguration book and his essay roll and headed back down to the common room.

-*-

The grounds were hot from the previous week of straight sun. It was an oddity to have such a beautiful day this late in September, but none of the Hogwarts students were complaining. Surely nothing but rain would come, but for now they enjoyed the sun. All but a few nervous children heading out to the pitch for their first flying lesson.

Most were apprehensive, being Muggleborn and Half-blood. Even one pureblood was scared. But there were three students that had been anticipating this day. All for different reasons: all ready to shine.

A tall, hawk-like had met them in the entrance hall and was leading them to the massive pitch in the distance, and possibly to their doom.

"Harry, don't worry. You are going to do great. Remember what happened last night?"

Harry sighed, "Yeah, but no one was watching me then."

"I was watching you, Harry," said Ginny

"That doesn't count-"

"And why not? Because I'm not a big pureblood like Malfoy?" Ginny responded hurt.

Harry cut in immediately and putting his hands on her shoulders, "Absolutely not, It's just that your different from them Ginny. I know you. I don't know them. They all look at me and expect some great hero and when they see how pitiful I am at flying, I'll be such a disappointment."

Ginny looked into his eyes, "What do you care if you disappoint them. They don't matter Harry. All that matter Are your friends. The Slytherins won't like you no matter what, but the Gryffindors will always stick by you, even if you turned out to be a squib."

They stood looking into each other's eyes, Harry's arms still on her shoulders. She was right and he knew it. She wouldn't care if he failed, she'd still be his friend and that's all that mattered.

"Oy Potter!" Devon cried from ahead, "You'll have years for that later, but now it's time for some flying!"

Harry blushed, he never knew what Devon was talking about, but it always made Ginny smile. He hurried alongside Ginny to catch up to the group ahead of them. They joined next to Hermione, who turned and gave them a worried look.

"Oh, I'm so worried." Hermione said, seemingly worried. "I've never flown before. I've read all through Quidditch through the ages and I haven't found an acceptable reference to how to control a broom. I'm a muggleborn, I've never even heard of flying brooms till I got to Hogwarts. Oh, I am so worried."

"Wow Hermione, you seem really worried." Ginny joked, earning the famous Hermione scowl.

Harry laughed, also getting a glare, sensing the famous Hermione head-turn and walk away he jumped in. "Don't worry Hermione" Ginny snickered quietly at 'worry'. "Someone pretty awesome once told me, 'It's not what others think of you, it's your friends that matter."

Hermione tilted her head in thought. "I don't know. It kind of makes sense. Well, I guess it makes sense for you two, but you see I haven't got any-"

Ginny huffed, "How many times do we have to tell you Hermione. We are your friends Hermione. You have to start trusting us."

"I know guys, It's just that I am so… so-"

"Worried?" suggested Harry and Ginny simultaneously. There was that glare again.

"Quiet down class and stand to the left of a broom." yelled their teacher, Madame Hooch, glaring at a few still talking Hufflepuffs. "Now, place your right hand over the broom-"

"What if you're left-handed?" asked Hermione.

"Your not left handed Hermione." said Ginny.

"No of course I'm not, I was just curious if it made a difference and…" Hermione stopped talking seeing the glare she was getting from Madame Hooch.

"Now if my class is done being interrupted. Place your right hand over your broom and say, up."

"UP" cried many voices at once.

Very few brooms rose. Only one rose on the first try. Ginny, emboldened by Harry's success, cried 'UP' with a bit more conviction and was successful. Malfoy and Devon were successful next. Hooch observed the struggling students and waited until the remainder had just given up and picked up their brooms.

"Good, now carefully mount your brooms and kick of the ground ever so slightly. Stay up the air for a few seconds, then lean forward and touch back down. If it is satisfactory, those who are gifted with a broom may move to gliding and eventually a class race." She watched all the children rise and come back down, except Longbottom. She bid him to go sit on the side-lines along with many others, including a thankful yet worried looking Gryffindor.

"Now those who are left, kick off and begin to slowly circle the spot where you stand now." Much less of the students seemed proficient at this exercise. She shifted more of the students off to the side.

Now there were only four students left. Three of which she knew as purebloods who had probably learned at home, but she had been surprised to see Harry Potter so proficient on a broom. "Now you four, fly over to where the mid-line touches the wall and get ready to race." She waited until they were lined in the air where she had told them. "Back up Mr. Malfoy, this will be a fair race. On my whistle now."

Harry gripped his broom tightly, completely confident in his abilities after his and Ginny's excursion the previous night. He looked to his left and flashed Ginny a grin. He looked to his right were Devon and Malfoy were: gave Devon a nod and a glare at Malfoy. He looked forward, lowered his shoulder and heard the whistle. Almost instantly he surged past his competitors, but his fast start was nearly outweighed by Draco's early one. Leaving him neck and neck with Draco, and Ginny right behind him with Devon pulling up the rear. Malfoy slammed into Harry's side unexpectedly, throwing him off balance. Harry recuperated and sped behind Malfoy, his head even with Malfoy's broom tail. They came to the first turn, and were surprised when Ginny took the curve the best and landed in the temporary lead. Harry saw Malfoys hand reach out for Ginny's broom tail, and deemed it necessary to give Malfoy a push of his own. Unlike when Malfoy pushed him from the side, Harry steered over into the back of Malfoys broom, effectively throwing Malfoy into a spin, and eventually, a rough landing ten feet below.

Ginny was out ahead, with Harry right behind her, and Devon, who had caught up when Harry spun Malfoy, was at his side. At the next curve Harry pushed the broom for all it had, coming out right next to Ginny.

Neck and Neck with Ginny, they turned and gave each other a smile. Head to head with only a few meters to go. They leaned forward giving the chase everything they had, and that final burst of speed put Harry in front by his shoulders. The students were cheering and Madame Hooch had a smile on her face. She had obviously just told off a very angry Malfoy.

"That was some good flying Mr. Potter. Now the promised prize," she said handing him a folded card. At his blank look she replied "This is for your eyes only. It is the password to the broom cupboard. Try not to break curfew" she gave him a rare smile and led the first years back to the castle.

Harry looked over at Ginny, almost afraid He'd see an angry witch, but instead he saw a curtain of red and the smell of Wild flowers. Yeah, he could also get used to this hugging thing.

-*-

"There is just the two trouble makers we wanted to see" Exclaimed a jubilant Fred that evening.

"Not going to bed so early I hope" Chimed in an equally jubilant George.

Harry and Ginny _had_ just been going to bed.

"That's right George, they seemed to have forgotten a little promise they made earlier today, maybe involving an initiation."

Ginny eyed the twins, "You two know it's nearly past curfew, right? You can't be dreaming of going out now can you?"

Fred and George looked aghast. George threw his hands in the air and cried out as Fred openly wept. "Where have we gone wrong Fred? Our prodigy, afraid of curfew."

"It's an abomination George." Sniffled Fred, "I can't believe after all we've done for her, she would just…"

Ginny sighed, and dejectedly asked "What's the plan?"

The twins immediately began smiling again. "Follow us to the kitchens; we'll need your help carrying these vials of potions and powders with us. We'll explain on the way."

And our star-crossed heroes set off into the middle of the night. Braving perils unknown, and others far too familiar. Escaping notice of the dastardly Filch, and dreading the appearance of the vile Snape, they carried on.

All the while Fred and George telling them of some strange Muggle movie they had seen while in town. Ottery St Catchpole wasn't completely magical, you see. Fred and George had mistakenly walked up to some of the nutters dressed from the movie thinking them their own kind. A funny story, but not one they had time to tell.

They arrived at a portrait of a fruit bowl and George tickled the pair, much to the astonishment of the younger duo it changed into a door handle, which George pulled open.

"So this is the kitchens?" asked Ginny as they entered the deserted room that looked nearly exactly like the great hall.

"Yes of course the place is usually a bit livelier innit George?"

"Yes, now I'll take the potions to the House elves with our instructions, you help the munchkins put the powder on the right plates" Replied George.

"So, Malfoys plate?" asked Harry.

"Hmm, I guess we did bring an extra one, but we have no idea where he'll sit tomorrow morning." Said one of the twins, Harry didn't know which.

"Actually, he always sits in front of the fire on the right side." Harry pointed to the place he talked about.

The twins looked at each other and nodded. George threw Harry a small vial of blue powder. "Not too noticeably Harry, just a little should do."

George left into a side room with the small case of potions. Harry sprinkled the blue powder sparsely on Malfoys plate. He hurried up to where Fred and Ginny were. "So who are the unlucky targets?"

Fred smiled and nodded his head, Harry followed and he and Ginny gasped.

"You can't be serious!" Ginny squeaked.

Alas, Fred was quite serious.

-*-

"I can't believe were doing this." said Ginny as they made their way back to the Common Room. "That was so much powder."

"Made it all ourselves yesterday during Defense against the Dark arts," grinned George.

"Professor Henderson actually let you make that stuff in class?" said Harry disbelievingly.

Fred answered, "Well, we weren't exactly _in_ class now were we George."

George replied, "No Fred, we were not."

The twins shared a laugh. A laugh that didn't last for long.

"Who's out here?" screamed a cranky voice they all knew as their cheerful caretaker.

"Run" George whispered.

Harry and Ginny followed Fred and George through passageway after passageway. They still heard the panting breath of the caretaker behind them. They veered around a corner and through a door to the right.

They waited quietly for what seemed like an hour. All of them had finally lost the blood pounding through their heads. Breath finally settling down, but still not thinking it a good idea to go outside just yet: they began to look around the room.

George was the first one to see it, as he was right in front of it, turned white. "What in blazes…"

-*-

A/N: Just barely missed twelve pages twice in a row, and eleven before. Hey, at least I'm very consistent. Hope you like, and many thanks to my exemplary Beta Arkanoth, who not only does a good job, but makes me feel better about the way this story goes. The prank in the next chapter was his grand idea after all. If anyone would like various outtakes of the story (i.e. forge seeing star wars, Devon and lavender comforting classmates, maybe even a certain scene from Hermione's POV.) just review and I might write it.

B/N: Arkanoth here, hope you like the prank coming up soon, see who can guess what the prank involves after the foreshadowing in this chapter.


	6. MWPP

A/N: Oh well. The long wait is credited to my heavy research and creation of back-stories for characters old and new to be used in later books. Also, I re-wrote the whole story. It's much better and encompasses the mood I'll be taking with the Dursleys. Oh and I'm the newest archivist at SIYE, where I haven't posted this story because sadly I don't know how ;(. On with the show.

**Chapter 6: Midnight Wanderings and Prankly Pursuits (MWPP)**

Fred turned around to see what his brother, George, was talking about. Becoming confused when he saw what he, George, was talking about.

George, Fred's brother, didn't notice the puzzled stares Harry and his sister were also giving him. "Simply astounding! Fred, come and look at this."

"I can see from here George, it's just a dusty old mirror." Fred was used to his brothers oddness, even took part in it with him. This however confused the young prankster, hoping his brother had not in fact lost it.

"No, come stand in front of it properly." George said motioning Fred over.

Fred walked over and stood in front of the mirror, still wearing the confused expression on his face. George looked thoughtful and moved out of sight of the mirror, prompting Fred's face to light up with amazement. "Too right my brother, most astounding."

The twins seemed lost in their own world in front of an old dusty mirror that didn't even show their reflection. Harry watched in confusion at the twin's antics. 'What was so special about the mirror?' he thought to himself. Maybe it was one of the many things he didn't know about the magical world

Ginny was watching the twins as well, though skeptically. Unlike Harry, she was accustomed to being the subject of many of their pranks, though not so much as her younger brother Ron. Eventually she had learned not to eat anything from the twins, or left alone near the twins. She knew enough to know that when they put a big show on like this it was best to leave before they pulled their prank while you were unaware. She shifted to see Harry next to her with a questioning look on his face as he watched the twins. He seemed to be under the spell of their showmanship. She definitely had to save him from them. Looking back at the twins showing they were deep in conversation taking turns in front of the mirror and oblivious to the other occupants of the room.

Ginny turned to look at Harry. "Let's get out of here before they try anything."

Harry looked surprised, "But what about the mirror, don't you want to see what it does?"

"Forget the mirror Harry; they're just trying to bait us into a prank. It probably doesn't do anything. We have to leave now." Ginny proceeded to pull him out of the door, being careful to open it and close it softly behind her. She led him down the hall at a run, both eager to escape her brothers and Filch. They continued running as they turned around the corner. They didn't stop running till about the fifth floor. They slowed their pace to a walk. Ginny began to explain a few things she had learned growing up. Don't eat the twins food, don't take her younger brother Ron's food, and don't let the twins put on a show lest you are in danger.

Unfortunately that put them right in front of their defense teacher. Mr. Henderson, it seemed, was staring absentmindedly out of the window. Their teacher did not seem to notice them yet. They slowly backed back around the corner until their professor called out to them.

"Not so fast mister Potter" Professor Henderson said as he turned towards them, "Any special reason you and your sidekick are out of bed at nearly midnight?"

Ginny was used to being under the microscope and playing it off. She nudged Harry and tried to silently communicate with him to take after her. "We were just taking a walk professor."

Their slightly older than prehistoric professor chuckled to himself, "The beds were too lumpy I take it. Luckily for you two, I do not have the nerve that Filch has. I don't intend to barge into the headmaster's office in the wee hours of the morning demanding your expulsion."

Harry was also used to scrutiny from adults. He was generally pretty good with telling what the punishment was going to be. The new professor was a mystery to him though. Professor Henderson had rarely even spoken to him in class. It was tough to gage were this was going.

Their professor continued on mistily, "Unfortunate as it is, I'm rather busy right now and might not notice if you two headed straight up to Gryffindor Tower. I may be so charitable as to forget that I saw you two" He turned to continue looking out the window down upon the Forbidden Forest.

Ginny nearly burst with glee and grabbed Harry's arm in an attempt to pull him away. Harry wasn't to be taken away just yet. He was rather curious. "Busy doing what? You're just looking out the window at the forest."

Ginny looked at Harry like he was insane. They were just given a pass on breaking the fundamental Hogwart's rule of curfew and he chose to question it. She tried to pull harder on his arm, yet again attempting telepathy. It didn't work. They would really have to start working on their telepathy.

Professor Henderson took in the scene gave him a sharp look, "Perhaps I was wrong mister Potter. Perhaps it is you that is the sidekick. Good night mister Potter. You too miss Weasley. Don't let me catch you on any midnight wanderings, no matter how lumpy your mattresses may be."

-*-

Hermione was worried as usual. When she wasn't worried, sometimes she found something small and meaningless to get worried about. This however was not one of those times. She was worried about a big something. She had woken to use the necessary only to return to find Ginny's bed empty. Having not seen her in the bathroom, she got the feeling something was very wrong. Ginny had always been in bed on time. Except for that one time she had stayed up until midnight in the common room talking with Harry. Oh how she envied the friendship those two shared. She had never had a friend so close.

Then it dawned on her like it was the most obvious thing. Ginny was probably just in the common room with Harry talking. She sighed and began walking down the stairs towards the common room.

What she saw at the bottom of the stairs scared her to silence. She ran down the final flight of stairs to the empty common room. She looked behind the chairs turned away from her and even dared call out their names. She was worried of course, frantic even. They weren't there.

As a last ditch effort, she swiftly climbed up the boys staircase, all the way to the top were she knew the first year boys dorm room to be. Hermione hesitated before slowly opening the door. She was greeted by the sounds of a train station, or maybe it was a sleeping dragon with bad asthma. Upon closer inspection turned out to be a snoring chorus of first year boys. She shook her head; you would never hear anything like this in the girl's dormitory, well maybe in the Slytherins dorms. Hermione couldn't help but giggle to herself as she quietly walked to the only bed with closed curtains. She wasn't one for house rivalries, but some of the Slytherin girls were very, well, hairy.

She pulled the only closed curtain aside. The empty bed didn't surprise her, she had expected that. This didn't stop her from being worried. She looked around at the other boys, hoping to find a reliable face. Her eyes settled on the boy in the bed next to Harry's. She recognized him as Devon Creed, the boy who had come looking for her after she had fled the potions classroom and had even offered to have Neville as a partner so that he wouldn't mess up her perfect potions anymore.

He seemed trustworthy enough, if not kind of cute. In fact she hadn't noticed this before, but Devon was very cute. Maybe it was his short brown hair. Maybe it was his toned chest, which was visible via the absence of a shirt. Maybe it was…

"Are you just going to stare at me or do you have a question?" Devon said sleepily through half open eyes.

Hermione began blushing furiously and let out a small squeal. "How long have you been awake?"

Devon sat up in his bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "I miraculously heard the door open." The covers that had been covering most of his chest fell, showing his entire upper body.

Hermione blushed and turned around. This was improper in many ways. "Harry isn't in his bed."

Devon looked over as he put his nightshirt on, "Ah, so he isn't. You can turn around now Hermione."

"Ginny's not in her bed either." Hermione was turning around slowly as if scared she was being hoodwinked.

"Well played Harry" Devon received the famous Hermione glare and faltered, "Don't worry Hermione, they're obviously out pranking. Something I would be doing if I didn't have such rotten luck that I would probably get caught. I can assure you that my mum wouldn't be too pleased with that." Devon lay back down. "I say let them have there fun, and let me have my sleep."

"No, we have to go find them. They could be out breaking rules and we have to stop them." Hermione said worriedly.

Devon looked up at her, "and wouldn't we be breaking curfew by looking for them."

This bit of simple logic didn't even begin to break through Hermione's resolve, "We have to go Devon, please?" She stared pleadingly at him.

He stared back for as long as he could then sighed, it wasn't often Hermione said please, but he was so tired. "Maybe we can wait in the common room and give them a stern talking to about the rules and why they should be followed, when they return." He said the last part purely to appease her as he got up, fully intent on falling back asleep once he got down to that comfy couch in front of the fireplace. He got out of his bed revealing him to be in just his boxers, causing Hermione to shriek and run out of the room.

- * -

While all the commotion was going on upstairs, Fred and George Weasley were still downstairs in front of an ancient mirror busy being bedazzled. The twins stood in front of a mirror that showed them not what they looked like, but what they were going to be when they grew up.

"So your shows you in front of our business surrounded by a mountain of gold and adoring women." Fred said for maybe the fifth time.

"Of course Fred, as does yours."

The dastardly duo had still not noticed the absence of their younger compatriots. They stood agape, wondering if their futures were truly to be so fortunate.

"But why, Fred, would we keep all our gold outside and why would the women be focusing on us instead of grabbing the gold strewn about?"

"Maybe it's our boyish good looks, or in this case," Fred said taking another look at the scene before him, "Maybe it's pure sex appeal. Admit it; we do look like quite the studs when we grow older."

"Right you are my dear brother. Damn good looking if you ask me. Not that we needed some shoddy old mirror to tell us that. We've always known we'd be successful pranksters gifted with gold, women, and looks."

"But of course we will be George."

Stepping away from the mirror and turning to leave. The opened the door and looked up and down the hall to make sure the coast was clear. As they began walking down the empty corridor, they couldn't help but wonder what felt different.

"George" whispered an unsure Fred

"Yes Fred" whispered back an equally unsure George

"Do you also feel like were two pranksters fewer than we were when we started this journey?"

-*-

Ginny and Harry hurried back to the common room, careful to look around corners before each turn, lest they be spotted by another teacher. Harry was wondering what was so important in the forest. All of the teachers seemed to be watching the forest. Hagrid had even been hit by a stray curse from the forest. Something was going on that had never gone on before. Fred and George even seemed wary of the teacher's dispositions on the forest. There was something dangerous in the forest and he was going to find out.

While Harry was plotting ways of figuring out the forest puzzle, Ginny was trying to work on reaching Harry through telepathy. They had almost got in trouble because she couldn't quiet him from her head. She would ask Hermione about telepathy tomorrow. Not only because she would be in the head of Harry Potter, but also because it was important for their future prankly pursuits.

They kept on walking, unintelligible of the storm that was awaiting them in the common room. When they finally reached the portrait of the Large Lady, as Ginny called her for compassionate purposes, they were greeted with the disapproving stare of an obese portrait, and the welcoming arms of Hermione inside.

Hermione watched them walk in the door, both looking smug in their rule breaking. She would set them straight. "Were in blazes have you two been?"

Hermione's famous glare seemed to be magnified by the sleeplessness in her eyes. She had dropped the book she had been reading when they walked in, something they had never seen before. The abuse of a book was the highest crime in Hermione's eyes. Or so they thought.

Ginny wasn't one to back down from a fight though, "We weren't doing anything wrong Hermione, were we Harry?"

Ginny thanked the lord when Harry shook his head in confirmation; maybe she was starting to get through to him with her telepathy. There was hope yet.

Hermione seemed to recoil slightly at her resolve but continued nonetheless, "Rule breaking is always wrong. If you were out pranking you could be in serious trouble, even expelled. I read the Hogwarts rulebook and it clearly states that curfew is at nine every on every weeknight. Its midnight right now, it is way past curfew. The Headmaster reserves the right to…"

"Hermione, we know the rules. We even saw a teacher, and he just let us go." Harry tried to reason with her but immediately realized by the fire in her eyes he had said the wrong thing.

"A teacher saw you two out after curfew. This is unacceptable. You have to report him to the Headmaster. Who was it? Don't you shake your heads at me, who caught you two?" Just then the portrait hole opened.

"You two got caught?"

Hermione rounded on the twins who had just entered. "You two were with these two? I can't believe you two would help them break the rules. They're bad enough without you two giving them crackpot ideas. Don't give me that look, Filch wanted to expel you two on the first day. Not one of you is even listening to me. I can't believe you refuse to see reason. Tell them Devon." Hermione swung her head around to look at the couch were Devon had waited with her.

Everyone turned to the couch Hermione looked. The twins laughed at the sleeping form of Devon. Harry almost felt sorry for Hermione when he saw the look on her face. She thumped him on the chest and he shot up, "Whaddya want?"

"Devon, you were supposed to tell them off for breaking the rules." Hermione whispered frantically.

Devon wiped his eyes and yawned before getting up and walking towards the pranksters. "Oh yeah, guys don't break the rules anymore or Hermione will get mad and wake me up again. Good night." Devon turned and walked up the stairs, much to the anger of Hermione.

It took awhile for Hermione to regain her cool, but when she did she turned back and gave them one last glare. "If you four want to get expelled then be my guest, but I'm going to bed so that I can concentrate in class tomorrow. Good night."

The four pranksters watched her climb, more like stomp, up the stairs. The twins were gracious enough to wait for her to go out of sight before…

"Were did you two go?"

"Yeah," Fred agreed with his twin, "We take some time to stare into a magic mirror and when we turn around."

"Poof, our prankster brethren," George received a glare from Ginny, "and sistren, happy? decided to fly the coop."

"And you two met a professor on the way back and didn't get into trouble? Do you realize that never has been done before, we should probably throw you two a party."

"No Fred, I say their party is us not remembering this next time we decide to throw a magnificent prank." George finished. Fred and George marched away in fake anger leaving the younger two pranksters alone.

-*-

The next morning was an important one for the pranksters. Harry awoke tense for the upcoming day. Today was the all important morning or what Fred and George had promised to be the greatest prank Hogwarts had ever seen. He had a sleepless night the night before thanks to Hermione. She had read the Hogwarts rulebook and seen to think they could be expelled for being out after curfew. He simply couldn't be expelled. Hogwarts had been far too good to him. Not mention all the good people he had met there, Ginny being the most prevalent. Then again the twins had been at Hogwarts for longer than He and Hermione. Maybe they knew more, because they certainly didn't think they would be expelled. Harry heard his stomach rumble and had to rule out skipping breakfast altogether. If this is what Hermione felt like when she was worried, then he and Ginny would have to listen to her more often.

He gave up on extra sleep and got up for the day. He didn't enjoy the knowing look Devon gave him as he came down the stairs. Ginny was sitting in a chair waiting for him. He squeezed down next to her in the chair.

Ginny scooted aside as Harry sat down in the chair with her. Both being quite small it was easy to fit. Later on they would have to find a new way to sit and talk, but this suited them for now. They both sat there silently thinking of the prank to come and its possible consequences. They each fidgeted in silence as they saw the twins come and the stairs and motion them out of the door. They reluctantly got up and followed at a distance as not to draw attention to their group. They reached the Great Hall and sat in their normal seats.

Dumbledore announced the start of breakfast and they began to eat slowly. Devon came to sit next to Harry.

Devon turned to them as he sat, "Whatever you two did, I'm assuming that you didn't do it around the two of you. So I should be safe next to you."

There was the usual chatter of morning conversations before the lessons. It went on for a good twenty minutes before somebody started snickering. It started slowly, but soon half of the Great Hall was roaring with laughter. Harry looked up at the Head Table to see what had happened and was confused to see a line of questionable characters. He was only lucky enough to recognize them because he used to hide while Dudley and his friends watched movies after hours. There in the middle of the Head Table was Old Ben Kenobi from the Star Wars movies, or who he knew to be Dumbledore. Sitting next to him was a younger McGonagall in a full metal bikini.

Harry looked around to see most of the Gryffindor table laughing, while the others looked generally confused. He figured that most purebloods wouldn't understand what Star Wars was but apparently Fred and George had seen it. Many other pure bloods must have. He looked over at Devon, who he knew to be pureblood and saw him nearly glaring at Professor McGonagall as Leia in her metal bikini.

Harry shook Devon to snap him out of his stupor, but Devon pushed him away and continued to stare at Professor McGonagall, "Harry, I think I'm in love."

"With Professor McGonagall?" Devon didn't answer as Harry shook his head of the mental image of those two in a lip lock. This was definitely something he never wanted to think of again. He left Devon to his self as he turned to see what Ginny thought of the spectacle. Instead of looking at the High Table, she was laughing at something across the room.

Harry looked to see Draco rapidly growing Hair all over his body. Draco seemed alarmed by the sudden hair growth and seemingly tried to ask for help, but all that came out was a weak growl. Draco/Chewbacca looked up to the Head Table for help from his favorite teacher. But Snape seemed busy with other things.

Snape sat at the teacher's table shifting uncomfortably in tight leather clothing. His normal greasy hair and smirk were replaced by a black helmet with a long and curved nose. Harry recognized him as Darth Vader. Snape/Vader suddenly sprung from his seat and bolted from the Great Hall to the laughter of the students. Fred and George, who were sitting across from Harry and Ginny, leaned in and told them they had added a laxative to Snape's transformation potion.

Dumbledore examined himself and the other teachers with a smile. He seemed to laugh when his eyes turned to Professor Flitwick. The green professor seemed to be having trouble with his preposition placement. He took time to let the laughter die down before he stood. "Let me personally congratulate the students whom invented this scheme. Hogwarts is a school very accepting of academic creativity as long as it doesn't interfere with lessons. Now the time for class is near. Let us all finish our meals and leave."

Dumbledore sat down and began eating again. The students seemed happier, and McGonagall covered up her 'assets' and seemed to enjoy the anti-aging add-on to her potion. All was good in Hogwarts. But tonight marked the Start of Quidditch season and Harry was finally going to see what Ginny had been talking about all year.

Ginny went through her day as normal, always partnered with Harry and usually very successful. She watched that night as Gryffindor got demolished in their opening game versus Slytherin. She was upset at the dirty play of Slytherin that injured three of the Gryffindor players for the duration of the season. She went to bed with a heavy heart at the loss but then perked up when she remembered what she wanted to ask Hermione.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you know about telepathy?"

**A/N: Here is the long belated 6****th**** Chapter of my story. If you are a longtime reader and haven't reread my re-writes then I strongly suggest you do or you could be highly confused later on. The prank was the idea of my Beta Arkanoth, thanks be to him as usual. As always, reviews heavily speed up the post speed. I'm starting a new thing called 'Dear Author' on my profile. Put a question in your review and I might just answer it on my profile. Anything along the lines of future plot, H/G relationship, the different characters and such. For all of you who wanted to know what each teacher was, here is the full list:**

**Obi-Wan- Dumbledore**

**Emperor- Henderson**

**Leia- McGonagall**

**Yoda- Flitwick**

**Lando- Kettleburn**

**Vader- Snape**

**R2- Sprout**

**C3P0- Burbage**

**Chewbacca- Draco**

**Han Solo- Vector**

**Bounty Hunter- Sinestra**

**Coming Soon- Chapter Seven: Quidditch can be a Bitch**


	7. Quidditch can be a Bitch

A/N: Sorry Guys and Gals, my family seems intent on not letting me get time to write. Plus my Computer broke down and I've had to use others. So, no one has used the 'Dear Author' idea, so there are no questions or answers on my profile. Instead of being disheartened I am actually quite happy, it means that I have explained everything so thoroughly that no one has any questions about plot or characters. I will never be thought of as a dramatic writer. I'm a man with the emotional range of a teaspoon for crying out loud. But I have a nose for action. Also Tragedy but that's the later years…

**Chapter 6: Quidditch can be a Bitch.**

The mood in classes that day could only be described as distracted. Although not every student knew who the Star Wars characters were, they couldn't get enough. Because the potion was a digestive, no spell could take away the effect and the teachers were forced to teach as the characters they were transformed into. This was shaping up to be a perfect Halloween with the teachers in costumes.

This made Herbology an incredibly interesting lesson to start their day with as Professor Sprout (R2D2) could only speak in beeps and whistles. She somehow managed to communicate what to do thanks to her various attachments which she used to point and such until Neville correctly guessed that they were assigned to cut the leaves off of a Voluminous Bulbous, a plant which when eaten causes the eater to develop a keen sense of night vision.

Harry spent the class laughing with Ginny about the successful prank when they attracted the angry stare of Hermione.

"Is this what you two were doing last night? Infringing on our education?" Hermione began in an aggressive yet somehow quiet tone.

"Hermione, we weren't…"

"Don't lie to me Harry, I'm not stupid. I know you two were doing something with the twins last night, and they are notorious pranksters. Now you have our professor changed into a robot. How can she teach us anything as a robot? What if I fail because of a crucial fact she was going to tell us today? How could you."

Before Harry could express his sorrow, he was interrupted by Dean Thomas who was sitting nearby, "It was a great prank and you know it Hermione. Just because you're a stuck up bitch doesn't mean you can ruin everyone else's good time."

The effect was instantaneous. Harry and Ginny's mouth fell upon while Deans and his friends, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati, starting laughing obnoxiously. Hermione's rant stopped immediately. Her eyes teared up at Dean's comment, but the flood works opened at their raucous laughter. She spun and fled the Herbology greenhouse. It took a while for what just happened to sink in.

"Ha, what a crybaby, right guys?" Dean said to his friends as he continued laughing.

Harry was beyond anger; before he could do anything a yellowish spell swept past him and hit Dean squarely in the face.

Dean's face began mysteriously bubble and there was a sudden explosion from his nose as small winged beasts flew from his nose and began to attack his face mercilessly. Dean's cries of pain called the attention of Professor Sprout. She wheeled over and began beeping loudly.

Harry turned to see Ginny's red, angry face, and followed it down her outstretched arm to the tip of her wand. She turned and there eyes met, without words they both turned away from the beepings of Professor Spout. Ignoring the loud tears of Dean, Parvati yelling at them for killing her new boyfriend: of one mind, they sprinted out the door and towards the Forbidden Forest were they saw the back of their friend disappearing into the woods. The forest was nearly a half mile away. Having been raised in equally active environments, they kept up with each other very well.

*~*

Hermione didn't know how long she ran. She'd been in the forest for awhile now and her legs and lungs were burning like fire. She had stopped crying by now. She had no more tears to cry. She slowed down and sat beneath a tree. Hogwarts was supposed to be different, magical. She was still the outcast. Made fun of for her intelligence. Her so called friends didn't even stick up for her. She looked around her and sighed. In her effort to get away from her class, she had not looked where she was going, thus was hopelessly lost. She sat for a while before finally deciding now was the as good of time as ever to find her way back. She rose from the ground and began the long trek back to the school. She decided she wasn't going to listen to Dean and his gang anymore. She also wasn't going to believe Harry or Ginny lies of friendship. They'd proved how far they could be trusted, that was for sure.

She walked back at a much slower pace, dreading the penalty for running out of class. She may even be expelled. Maybe that would be best, she needed to see her parents right now. They were the only ones who truly cared. Even her Head of House Professor McGonagall often gave her furtive looks.

Looking around she realized she had taken a different path back then she had in. Not that she remembered any landmarks from her run in. She continued walking for maybe ten minutes before she heard another presence near her. She began to look around cautiously, slowly drawing her wand. She slowly turned in a three sixty to check all of her surroundings. She waited but the noise didn't come again. She sighed; maybe she was overreacting to the creepy forest. She wasn't supposed to be in here after all, just another thing she'd be in trouble for.

She continued to walk, wand still in hand. Observant of her surroundings, she walked until she heard the noise again. A distant whispering in the trees, which was slowly getting closer. The whispers were growing clearer and more defined, and soon didn't sound like whispers at all, but scurrying from above, possibly in the trees. She continued to listen carefully, and as sudden as the scurrying started, it just as soon stopped. Slowly she looked around. On a hunch she looked straight up. She only dove out of the way at the last second. The giant spider came nearly to Hermione's waist as it let go of the web it had lowered itself down on.

A silent scream escaped Hermione's mouth as she stepped back from the spider. The spider had venom dripping from its fangs, fangs that were larger then Hermione's own foot.

Hermione knew a few spells, but nothing to take down a spider of this size. She pointed her wand and shouted "Incendio". Flames shot out of her wand and landed in front of the spider. If spiders could laugh, the noise it made as it stepped through the flame would count as such. Hermione spun on the spot and ran as fast as her tired feet could take her; the stitch in her side erupted from earlier.

She could hear the spider come closer and closer as she dodged past tree after tree. Breathing heavily she jumped off a small lift in the rocks. The spider had trouble making it down the three foot cliff. It eventually swung itself down using its amazing web making abilities, but its prey had slipped into a nearby secluded cave.

Hermione could only run so long. As a child she tried to stay active as well as be well read, but she couldn't go on any longer. She stumbled farther into the cave. The cave was lit by cracks in the ceiling; she could see it was past noon. She had been in the forest for hours, and she probably wouldn't make it out alive if she couldn't think of something. She could barely stay upright anymore as she stumbled into the final cavern of the cave. The only place to hide was behind a raised pedestal in the center of the cavern. She knelt behind it, blocked from the door. Now she could only wait and hope the spider had given up.

She waited for a couple of minutes. She had seen the spider follow her into the cave, though a distance back. She had not heard the hurried scurrying enter through the door. Silently she turned the corner of the pedestal and came face to face with the same spider she had eluded for nearly half an hour. She scrambled backwards and was pressed into the wall, trapped. She nearly fainted as the spider slowly advanced and opened its mouth to reveal the long, dripping fangs. She could only hold her arms up and pray for a miracle.

*~*

"Harry, she's nowhere in sight. We've been in here for hours." Said the tired voice that belonged to his great redheaded friend Ginny.

"I know," Harry sighed, "but we can't stop looking. Dumbledore said the forest was dangerous. We can't leave her in here alone."

Ginny looked at him fiercely, "You know that's not what I meant Harry. I was stating the obvious."

"Be quiet Weasley."

Ginny's eyes lit up, "What did you say to me Potter?" She soon realized Harry wasn't listening to her. She listened carefully to her surroundings. "Harry, What is that sound?"

Harry looked around, "Screaming."

They both took off in the direction of the sound. Pushing through the increasingly thick trees, they came upon a cave. They had a glimpse of Hermione streaking in followed soon by a very large spider.

As they ran Harry questioned, "Why do they have monster spiders in here?"

"They're not regular spiders Harry, they're Acromantulas." Ginny panted back, "Much more dangerous, and very poisonous."

They nearly lost the spider through the long cave. They finally caught up to see Hermione hold up her arms as they spider began to attack. Without thought, Harry sprinted across the cavern and through himself bodily on top of the spider, throwing his arms around the spider's hairy neck, barely missing the fangs. The spider easily bucked him off as he smashed his head onto the cavern wall. Ginny screamed out his name and ran to him as the spider abandoned Hermione for his now unconscious prey. Ginny stood in front of him with a simple stick she had picked up outside when she first saw the spider.

Hermione watched as Harry dove on top of the spider to save her life and nearly lost his own getting thrown onto the wall nearby. She saw the blood slowly leaking from his head and watched Ginny hopelessly try to defend him. She looked around for something to use and only saw a few rocks. She picked up the nearest one and threw it, hitting the massive body of the acromantula.

The rock caused the acromantula to turn and assess the new attacker as she picked up another, sharper rock. It looked back to the one that smelled of flowers and decided the manned (may-ned) creature was more of a threat that the one with the blunt stick. It turned and streaked across the cavern towards the rock throwing female.

Hermione was happy that her diversion had worked, but then realized that it was streaking towards her. She clutched the rock she had in her hand, aimed, threw towards the mouth of the acromantula, and then retreated back. Her rock hit the acromantula straight in its tooth, knocking it loose. It now had only one venomous tooth at its disposal, but it was twice as angry, and seemed to take her more seriously. Looking across the cavern made eye contact with Ginny, who had been trying to awaken Harry. Ginny understood and picked up her stick and charged at the acromantulas back.

Her blunt stick wasn't enough to pierce the skin, but it did collapse part of the back exoskeleton. As it was turning around to attack Ginny, another sharp rock was shoved straight into its back, breaking the skin and causing it to bleed. The acromantula didn't even turn towards Hermione, but shot web straight at her, successfully wrapping her legs and arms.

Ginny watched as Hermione fell unmovable and gave the stick a mighty swing towards the head of the acromantula. She swung so hard she broke her stick into pieces. Ultimately the stick did nothing but stun it for a few seconds, leaving Ginny cornered with no weapon and no energy left to fight with.

With her back to the wall, she sank to her knees. She could only watch as her predator sprang towards her. In the last instant she was showered with blood, but not hers. She looked up to see her savior, Harry Potter, grasping a long ruby encrusted sword as he stood over the headless form of the now deceased acromantula. She stood and flung her arms around him as he dropped the sword and hugged her back.

Ginny giggled, "If only you knew how often I've had this dream."

Harry blushed, "Do I usually save you from a giant spider?"

"No, but you always have a white horse."

*~*

After Harry cut Hermione free from the spider webs, they were preparing to head back to school. However on the reinspection of the cavern, Hermione walked towards the Pedestal in the center of the room. On the pedestal there was a simple black jar. She picked it up and looked around the cavern, waiting for the collapse. It was fine though, maybe she had seen that London Smith (play on Indiana Jones) movie too much. She tried to take the top off but found that she couldn't.

"What is that Hermione?" Harry said as he moved closer.

"I don't know exactly, but the jar obviously won't open. It's no use to us." She said as she put it down.

Harry thought as he examined it, He couldn't open it either. "I think I'll keep it. I enjoy magical puzzles."

*~*

They began the trek back to the castle. Nothing need have been said about what happened earlier in the day, they all understood where they stood with each other. They had shown it earlier in the cave. They need only walk back in the now dark forest.

Harry's hand snapped to his side as they reached the end of the forest. "The sword! It's gone. I put it in my belt."

The others stopped walking and tuned to look at him. Ginny was the first to speak, "Are you sure you picked it up?"

"Yes, remember I cut through those thorns a bit back? I still have the jar."

Hermione seemed to have her thinking cap on, "Well Harry, It came to you out of thin air, it only makes sense that it disappears into thin air as well. Maybe it's some kind of Magical balance." Both Hermione and Harry turned to look at Ginny, the only one with real wizarding experience.

Before Ginny could answer however, they found themselves in the strong arms of a lovable half giant.

Hagrid was in tears as he held them in his crushing hug, "Thank the Lord, yer all alive. Everyone was sayin' you disappeared into the forest this morning and haven' been heard from since. They wer all scared you were dead."

After being let down and assuring him they were fine and just got lost, Hagrid led them to the Great Hall were everyone was having dinner. As they entered, the Great Hall became silent. Dumbledore himself looked extremely relieved, where as McGonagall, who was seated when they entered, was already halfway across the hall. Before the worried Weasley brothers could get to Ginny, she and her comrades were swiftly jerked out of the Great Hall, and into the Entrance Hall.

The tongue lashing they had received was legendary. Somehow the sound had pierced through the gigantic Great Hall door. It has been said that even the Slytherins were in fear. Needless to say, Transfiguration classes that week were more behaved than a Snape class had ever been.

*~*

Our Fantastic Trio awoke the next morning in the hospital wing. Harry and Ginny were treated for minor cuts they had received in the forest, purely as a precaution, while Hermione had a full on ruptured ear drum from the gentle ministering of Professor McGonagall's soothing voice. A ruptured ear drum was nothing to wizards and was easily regrown in the span of a night.

They had stayed up late into the night before talking quietly into Hermione's good ear. Friendship was a much more delicate thing than a human ear drum, but they had reached a comfortable understanding.

Upon return to their common room, they were greeted by a downcast group of Gryffindors. Hermione pushed through the drab crowd to change for class that day, but Harry and Ginny were beckoned over by Fred and George. They crossed the room to their table and took Alicia and Angelina's usual seat.

Ginny was smartly wary of her brothers as she sat, "What's up guys?"

George responded dejectedly, "You mean what's down little sis. We played our first Quidditch match versus Slytherin yesterday."

"Damn Snakes" added Fred

"Not only did we get buried 230-20, our seeker quit. He had been beaten up all game and just got frustrated. It was his first game and he said he had better things to do than lose her life. Tell them about Angelina, George" George finished

George frowned, "Of course leave the hard part to me."

"What happened to Angelina?" Harry asked worried. Angelina was a nice third year. She had helped them when they got lost before their first charms class.

"She got hit by a bludger."

"That's not so bad Fred, people get hit by bludgers all the time, and she'll be fine by tomorrow." Ginny pat his back sympathetically.

"No, you don't understand. We were on the other side of the field when it happened. She fell, pretty far. She went to Saint Mungos for spinal damage."

"Can't they just fix it with a spell?"

"No Harry, Spinal injuries are different than regular injuries. It's not as simple as cancer. If she even comes back, she'd barely be able to walk right away. Forget Quidditch." George looked down at the table.

Katie had been watching on and added, "Oliver hadn't left his room since the game yesterday afternoon after the game. He refused to be treated for his sprained wrist. And Alicia doesn't even know if she wants to play at all anymore. It was me and her first match."

Fred raised his head, "That's why we need you."

Ginny was taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"We saw you two fly in class. You're the best flyers we've seen since watching Charlie play. You guys have to play." George said it as if it was the most obvious choice.

"But we've never even played Quidditch before." Harry persisted

Fred had a glint in his eye, "Nonsense Harry, that's what training is for."

*~*

That is exactly were they found theirselves that breezy Sunday afternoon. The twins had convinced Oliver to leave his room to preside over the practice. Even Alicia came to watch, although she had not yet decided whether or not to stay on the team. Oliver led them to the center of the field and sat down the large crate he was carrying.

"Now Quidditch," Oliver began, "Is a game of mental strength. Do you two have the strength to lose and still play hard the next game?" He looked over to Alicia as he finished.

"Yes, sir." Chimed Harry and Ginny loudly in response.

Oliver gave them a hard look and released the small gold ball behind his back were the participants couldn't see. "Now with two vacant positions, we must see were you two will play. Whichever one of you can find the snitch first is the new Gryffindor seeker. Now start looking."

Ginny mounted her broom and began to kick start her broom, but Harry just pointed to a gold speck were the teachers usually sat, "You mean the shiny thing?"

Oliver, the twins, Katie, Alicia and even Ginny stared at him with equally surprised expressions. Oliver was the first to recover, "Well Harry, welcome to the team." He tossed Ginny a quaffle, "Now let's see what you got Red."

Harry almost felt sorry for Oliver as he flew away. He turned to see the smirk on Ginny's red face, "Knock him dead, Red." Harry now felt sorry for himself.

Ginny soon decided to let Harry live, "Nice spot Potter."

"Nice goal Weasley, you really tricked him."

Ginny wrinkled her nose in confusion, "I hadn't shot yet."

Harry smirked, "No, but I have faith."

And trick out Oliver she did. Not long after admonishing her for taking to long to get up to him, he felt a strange wind pass his head, he turned to watch the Quaffle sail through the middle hoop. Smoothing his hair, he turned and shook his head, "Good lord, there are two of them."

Ginny raised her hands in triumph, and looked down at her cheering brothers. A sense of pride filled her as she flew down, only replaced by a new, stranger feeling when she got close enough to see Harry's lopsided grin. She blushed as she landed and got hard congratulatory pats on the back from her brothers. She grinned as she jumped into Harry's arms.

Alicia watched on, maybe she could stay on the team and see how the next game went. She grinned as Fred pulled her into the celebration. This team was already closer.

*~*

Buzz about how the Gryffindor Quidditch team could handle itself since the devastating loss that ended October grew over the next month and a half. The secrecy of the replacements only fueled the fire. November was spent with a weekly article in nearly every School Paper. Come the cold day of December 16, all the questions would be answered. It was Hufflepuff's first game of the season, Gryffindor's second. Gryffindor was at a disadvantage, being only the third team in Hogwarts History to play two games before Christmas. Slytherin was the second.

The only good news was Quidditch Cup favorites Ravenclaw had thoroughly stomped Slytherin 220-50. The Gryffindor team could think of none of this as they sat not listening to Oliver's warm up speech. They only thought about their game to come. Hufflepuff had a tough primary Chaser surrounded by questionable secondary Chasers and a short Keeper. If they wanted a chance at the cup they needed to score big this game, at least 200 and hope that the other teams kept their scores down.

At the end of a long speech that left the players less motivated than when they started. They stood in the tunnel listening to the chanting and stomping of the crowd. Harry gave Ginny a reassuring nod as the doors flew open and they flew into the boisterous stadium. The school heavily turned out even for the game between the bottom two competitors for the cup. The love affair with Hogwarts and Quidditch only grew as the years went by.

"By Jove, Harry Potter is the Gryffindor Seeker." Lee Jordan's voice boomed over the stadium.

By now Harry was used to his overt fame as he flew near Ginny and called towards her in a dramatic voice, "And the great Chaser Ginny Weasley. Yah, Yah."

Ginny laughed at Harry's fake crowd calls and pushed him away as they took their lineup positions for the start of the match. Madame Hooch set down the box and released the bludgers. Harry swore till his death that one took a snap at him on its way up, though Bludgers didn't have mouths. Hooch let the snitch go and grasped the Quaffle. With a "Play a good game", she threw the Quaffle airborne and Ginny had somehow come up with the grab, a great feat for a Secondary Chaser.

Ginny shot off toward the goal. She dodged left as the only chaser in her way went by and made the shot.

"GOAL! Gryffindor scores! It seems we might have a chance this year."

Ginny didn't hear the rest as the Keeper recovered the ball and very predictably threw it to his Primary Chaser. Making the steal wasn't even difficult for Ginny. The Keeper didn't even attempt to look her off his target. She ascended and shot left. Another goal. The Keeper learned this time and pump faked it to one of his Secondary Chaser before again tossing it to his Primary Chaser. Ginny shot after her assignment, a Secondary Chaser. Her opponent wasn't even trying to get open, but seemed content on flying straight and not even checking her teammate. Oliver made the save and quick tossed to Katie. The other Chasers hadn't reset yet and she was off to the races. Katie made an easy toss that put them up 30-0.

Ginny didn't even attempt to cover her assignment and screened in front of the Primary Chaser. The keeper saw the double coverage too late, and was already halfway through his throw. This resulted in the Quaffle's momentum carrying itself out of his hand and in a path downward. Ginny dove at a 50 (a fifty degree angle) and caught the Quaffle at 60 yards above the ground, the side goals were 1oo yards off the ground, she shot toward the left one. She stared it down and the Keeper bit on the fake, moving from the middle to protect the left goal. Ginny smiled as she tossed the ball behind her back at about 90 yards and Alicia took it to the right for the score.

Not long after it was 120-0. Ginny had the Quaffle at 120 yards up. The middle goal was 150 yards up. She had been reassigned to the Primary Chaser due to great play and he was plying beside her. A misaimed Bludger from Fred pushed inside, closer to Ginny. Her opponent sneered and pulled off to the right, while the Bludger was on a can't miss collision course with Ginny.

Ginny reacted quickly, throwing her right side off of the broom, hanging on with her left hand, the Quaffle in her right. The Bludger sped harmlessly between her and her broom. She landed the next second and easily threw the ball past the stunned keeper.

Harry watched from above and smile. She was really stealing the game. The Keeper looked ready to quit already. He turned and flew off, he had seen the Snitch twice, but had let it go because they weren't up far enough. He resurrected his quest for the Snitch, searching low and high, high and low. Harry was running what Oliver called an eight pattern. Harry was let down when he learned it was simply flying in a large eight and looking to both sides. The Seeker had a much easier Job than the other players; even the Beaters had tricky patterns.

A glint of gold was all Harry needed to take off. Oliver cheered from a distance where he had been watching Harry's catch. Unfortunately before Harry had caught the Snitch, a Chaser had snuck one into the right. The game ended 290-10. The celebration was great, but the big challenge was not getting rusty in the months between now and their mid April Season ender.

The Gryffindor fans stormed the field as the Gryffindor Quidditch Team rammed into a group hug twenty yards above them, with Harry and Ginny hugging in the middle.

A/N: How sweet it is to be over 25k words. Remember the 'Dear Author' I'm running, where you give me a question and I might answer it on my Page. And of course the poll on what role Devon should play in this story. He wasn't in this one, but Harry Potter fans are usually resistant to new character, I know I am. I just need him for his pureblood family. Thanks be to Arkanoth, who editith my work.

Review? No? Ok.


	8. Slytherins Love Snow

A/N: Sorry for the wait. This chapter is not beta'd. It was taking way too long and I've actually lost interest in my own story. Anyways, it's time for the holidays, which means no action all feelings and dialogue. Maybe I'll add rampaging giants?

**Chapter 6: Slytherins Love Snow**

Harry awoke to the sunlight on his face. Sitting up, he remembered what they accomplished the other day. Their Quidditch victory wasn't exactly historical, but it was very substantial. If their next victory was large enough, they would make the biggest comeback for the cup ever. They were going up against the points leader, so in essence, they controlled their own destiny.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he finally noticed the absence of snores from the nearby beds. Looking around he saw he was alone in the dorm. Upon further inspection of outside he saw the sun at almost vertical ascension. He jumped out of bed realizing he'd slept till nearly noon. Throwing his clothes on quickly, he grabbed his bag and rushed out of the dorm and down the stairs. He reached the common room to find it full of dressed down students. He rushed over to the corner he usually shared with Ginny.

"Ginny, what are you doing. We're late for class." Harry finally calmed down and examined his surroundings. He drooped when he realized the mistake he had made.

Ginny just smiled at him, "Happy Sunday sleepyhead. It's just too bad we don't have class for another three weeks."

Harry huffed and sat down beside her, "Don't rub it in Weasley. You could have easily made the same mistake."

"Nonsense Potter, I'm way too smart to make a silly mistake like that." Ginny finished with a smug look.

"I have a long memory, I'm gonna hold you to that." Harry gave a competitive stare with Ginny, causing them to break into a mini staring contest.

Their staring contest was rudely interrupted by their book laden friend whom just entered the common room. "Glad to see you finally got up Harry, Now if were done acting like children, we have some studying to do."

Sending one last glare, Ginny turned to face Hermione, "Um, Hermione? What are we studying for?"

Hermione's head snapped to the side with a look of amazement, "What are we studying for? Were we not in the same Charms class last week? Are you not the same girl who had trouble with the engorgement charm? I thought so, so we need to study for the refresher course that you know Professor Flitwick is going to give us."

Hermione turned back to her books and gave the 'famous Hermione glare' until Harry and Ginny did the same. With a desperate sigh, they complied. They had only been reading for twenty or so minutes when a general murmur overtook the common room. Harry looked up to find a group of cheering boys and chattering girls around the window.

He looked questioningly at Ginny, who shrugged, "Must be snowing."

As if on delay Ginny shot up, earning Hermione's glare, "Oh stop it with that look already. Go get changed, Hermione. It's snow time."

Hermione looked timid, "I've never actually been in a snowball fight."

"There is a first time for everything. Get dressed and meet me here in ten minutes. That goes for you as well Harry. Ten minutes."

~*~

Eleven minutes later, Harry found himself making his way down the long road to outside, along with his friends. Harry took this time to reflect on exactly how lucky he was at Hogwarts. The friends he had made at Hogwarts were friends he would surely have for a very long time. It's not like he'd ever been physically harmed at the Dursley's. Attention deprived and starved maybe, but never beaten. Hogwarts was wonderful and Ginny was an absolute Godsend.

His friendship with Ginny had so far been the highlight of his entire life, surprisingly even more important than finding out he was a wizard. Every day he spent with her was the next best day he'd ever been through, as corny as it sounded. He cared so much about her and he'd never begun to tell her how much. Christmas was just around the corner, he would have to get her a present that really showed her how he felt. How much he cared.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts as they reached the Entrance Hall. The girls had been talking nineteen to the dozen (A/N came up as synonym to chatter) about something on the way down. He was thankful they had not noticed his pensiveness as they walked out of the door. Ginny looked to the side and made eye contact with Harry. With a wink, she took off at a sprint. Harry caught on quick and was instantly on her heels. They ran until they came near Hagrids Hut and each started a massive fort.

They were interrupted as several other students rushed down to were they were. Ginny jumped over her fort and dove over Harry's as a couple of snowballs came flying. Harry looked at her questioningly.

She shrugged, "Your fort was bigger."

Hermione finally caught up and began to help Harry and Ginny build their defense up. Ginny packed snowballs, while Harry and Hermione packed the fort. Harry was hit with a softly packed snowball. Looking up he saw the twins running to join their side. Looking at the other fort, he saw Seamus helping a group of four second years and a third year.

He smiled when he didn't see Dean, who had been the subject of some very brutal pranks over the last few weeks. Most of which involved a part of his clothing catching fire.

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts by two simultaneously thrown snowballs, both which had come from his own fort.

"Did we tell you to stop building Potter? Go build a new wing over to the left so that we can get them from two angles."

Harry nodded at the twins and grabbed Ginny's arm, dragging her with him twenty yards away.

"What was the meaning of that?" Ginny huffed as she wiped snow from her front.

"I can't build a fort wall by myself can I?" They expertly dodged incoming snowballs while they built up a new wall. After five minutes of unsuccessfully hitting the duo, their assailants began to aim at their flimsy fort, knocking it down and leaving them defenseless.

Defeat looming in their future, they looked to the side to see how their companions were holding up. Fred and George were standing in front of an upset Hermione, who couldn't seem to make a decent snowball. Their fort was almost apart as well. On top of that, more students had arrived, none joining their team. The teams were roughly ten to five. Harry stuck his hand in front of Ginny's face to block a snowball that had slipped past her awareness. They prayed for a savior they didn't expect to come. Seamus jumped over his wall and made a way towards them, densely packed snowballs in each hand and a manic grin on his face. Harry realized they couldn't escape it. They didn't have enough time to make any more snowballs without being pelted. Harry put himself in front of Ginny as Seamus wound back his arm, but was immediately pelted by a large snowball. He was hit so hard he dropped the other snowball in his hand and staggered back.

"You call this a fort Potter? It's barely a foot tall."

Harry whipped around to see the last persons he'd ever expect to come to his rescue, "What was that for Malfoy?"

Malfoy smirked, "What, Slytherins like snow too." He chucked another snowball at Seamus as Crabbe and Goyle began to build up the fort to twice the size it had been before.

Harry smiled; it was ten to eight now. He looked to the side, to see Hermione had completely given up and was balled into a defensive position. He sighed, ten to seven.

With Malfoy and his gorillas assisting in the fight, the tables were quickly turning in their favor. Crabbe had hit a second year so hard, he had given up altogether and gone in, nine to seven. Seeing Fred and George about to be overrun, Harry picked up a snowball off of the pile and ran to their rescue. He hit a third year square in the face, causing her to surrender. His presence had reawakened Hermione to the fight. His next snowball missed his target, but his target didn't miss Fred. Fred looked dazed as George turned to see if his brother was alright, getting hit hard himself. Hermione stuck up her hands in surrender when the three advancing boys were about five feet away. Harry was the only one left lucid as the three boys pulled back their arms, ready to put him out of his misery. The next second those same three boys were on the ground under about two feet of snow.

"Thanks Hagrid," called Harry as he pulled the twins to their feet and began rebuilding their fort. Eight to six now that Hermione had joined them again.

"No problem 'arry. Three to one isn't exactly fair is it?" Hagrid called back.

Harry shook his head no.

"TRAITOR!!!" he heard Ginny call. He turned to see Malfoy running to the other fort with half of their snowballs.

"Alright guys, let's end this." Harry said as he signaled Ginny and the gorillas. As one, they all grabbed two snowballs and ran to the other fort, screaming. Harry dove on top of Seamus and stuffed one of the snowballs in his face, "Give?" Harry asked holding the other one menacingly above his face. "Yeah you got me." Seamus replied.

Harry got up and dropped the other on his face anyway. He had been the one to almost smack Ginny in the face earlier. He examined the field to see only two of the enemy left, Malfoy and a second year. Smirking, he pushed his snowball into the second years face. It was over.

Harry ran over, "I thought you were a traitor?"

"If I was a trader, would I 'accidentally' step on all their snowballs when you guys were halfway over?" Malfoy said, usual smirk in place.

Harry looked him over, "This doesn't change anything between us Malfoy."

"Not a chance, Potter." Malfoy said as he and his gorillas walked off.

Ginny ran over to him and pushed him over into the ground, shoving snow in his face.

Harry rolled out from under her and spit out the snow, "What was that for?"

Ginny shrugged, "You looked hungry."

Harry smiled as he picked up some snow of his own and lunged after her.

~*~

A full fifteen minutes after every one had gone in; Harry and Ginny were still tossing lightly packed snow spheres at each other. Another five minutes saw there snow debacle ending in a truce. Harry hadn't noticed the cold during all the fun, but judging from Ginny shivering she felt the same. He had a sudden idea as they slowly trudged towards the castle. The walk was hard due to the half shin deep snow, but they made it within ten minutes. Instead of taking the usual staircase up to Gryffindor Tower, he led her down the side towards the Dungeons.

Ginny followed quizzically, "Harry, why are we going to the Dungeons? I'm cold; we should go back up to the Tower."

"Don't worry Gin; we need to make a small stop first."

They walked on for a couple of minutes before they came to the familiar painting of the bowl of fruit. They stepped inside and Harry called the elves over as they had been accustomed to. He whispered something to the elves and they scurried away. Harry led Ginny to the table where they were served with a steaming cup of a boiling brown liquid.

Ginny's face lit up, "Hot chocolate! Perfect idea, even for you."

Harry smirked, "Oh ha ha. You are just so funny. Just drink your cup."

"You shouldn't be mean to me you know. Old Saint Nick is watching you; he doesn't like it when boys are mean to innocent girls." Ginny sipped as she finished.

Harry did a spit take with the cocoa he was drinking. "First off you are not innocent Ginevra Weasley. Secondly, I find it upsetting that you would try to scare me with an old muggle fairy tale."

Ginny stared at him blankly, "Harry, Saint Nick is not a fairy tale. Nick is real. He brings gifts to all pure hearted wizards."

"No way is that true. You're trying to have me on. I've seen my aunt writing from Santa on all of my cousin's presents."

"Who's Santa?" Ginny asked, sitting her cup down.

"Santa, as in Santa Claus? Jolly old Saint Nicholas." Harry came back

"I don't know this Santa Claus. You are definitely thinking of Saint Nicholas. The last part was right."

Harry decided not to press the matter. She was obviously waiting for him to believe so that she could have it out on him, so instead of arguing he took another sip of his cocoa and changed the subject. "That was quite a snow sphere fight wasn't it?"

~*~

Over the next week of break many tried to recreate what was a legendary snow sphere fight. None were successful. The morning before the train ride home Hermione made sure they promised to study really hard while she was away. She even had McGonagall sign a permission slip so that she could take more than four books home.

"Harry, may I take that jar you found home to study?" she asked before she left.

Harry turned from Ginny and their Gobstone game, "What jar Hermione." Ginny looked interested as well.

Hermione straightened her scarf, "The jar you found that day you saved me from the giant spider, the black one?"

"Yeah sure, but you know as well as I do that it won't open." Harry answered while standing to get the jar out of his trunk.

"Of course, but I think I recognized a rune on the side and I'd like to take a look at it over the holidays." Hermione scoffed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry and Ginny stared at each other and shrugged. Harry ran up the staircases to retrieve the jar. While he was gone Ginny turned to Hermione, "Um, Hermione? We don't start Runes until 3rd year as an elective. How would you recognize a rune?"

Hermione's eyes perked up like they only did when she was lecturing, "I didn't exactly recognize the rune, but the signs of rune work. I first observed the singular figure. It began with a slight curve into the endorsal region. Other marks included…"

They were interrupted by Harry as he came down the stairs with the smooth black jar. "Here you are Hermione. It's all your." Hermione smiled and said her goodbyes as she took the jar. With a final 'study' she was gone and they were alone in the tower.

Harry finished waving as she shut the portrait hole. He turned to Ginny, "What were you two talking about when I was coming back down?"

Ginny laughed, "I have no clue, at all."

~*~

Harry sighed and rolled over; he was having a fantastic dream. Gryffindor was in their last match, all he had to do was catch the snitch and they would have the Quidditch Cup. Suddenly his world was shaking uncontrollably. He could hardly focus on the snitch. He tried to dive, what was the crowd cheering?

"GET UP HARRY!!"

This didn't make since, why would the crowd want him up.

"Harry, this is the last time I'm going to tell you, and then I'm going to open up your presents for you." Ginny waited for response and soon became aggravated by the lack of one. She walked over to the window and opened it, getting herself a handful of snow and packing it tightly. Closing the window, she stepped back over his head and dropped it.

Harry sprang out of the bed and yanked his wand off of the side table. He snapped out of his panic at Ginny's laughter. Realizing the situation he threw a pillow at her, "I'm the one who should be good for Saint Nick?"

"You betcha, now open your presents, I brought mine in here so we'd do it together. And I usually don't wait for anybody, ever." Ginny walked over to her pile and tore open the first package.

"Well then thanks. Happy Christmas Ginny."

Ginny slightly colored and smiled back, "Happy Christmas Harry."

Harry then looked at the foot of his bed, where he saw the magnificent pile of presents. He had never gotten a present before. Once a year he heard a knock at his door and found a piece of Christmas cake on a plate just sitting on the floor. He never knew where it came from, but He had never gotten a present before, especially not in this magnitude. First he opened a brown paper package which read, 'From Hagrid'

"Hey Gin, Hagrid got me some rocks!" Harry exclaimed

Ginny looked over and laughed, "He sent me some too, and I think they're supposed to be food."

Harry picked one up and tapped it on his bedpost, "No I believe they aren't, maybe their meant to be. I should make use of it though." Harry paused and examined the rock cake. "Maybe I could carve something out of it."

"You know how to carve things?" Ginny asked curiously

"I learned to do plenty of things to keep myself occupied at my relatives." Harry replied with a shrug.

"Oh, well that's cool. Awesome, Mum sent me a sweater this year." Ginny smiled

Just then the twins walked in, "When would our mother not send us the Christmas jumpers, dear sister?"

"Tough luck Harrikins, we were sure you'd get one," said Fred as he sat on an unoccupied bed.

"Well, why would he Fred? He's the best friend of the only Weasley girl. I bet their not willing to accept him so quickly." Answered George

"Not without meeting the boy first."

"Especially after I wrote Mum that they were sure to be married," George laughed

"Oh George, tell me you didn't" Ginny was a shade darker than her hair.

"Okay I won't tell you."

Harry wasn't paying attention as the siblings jabbered on; he was used to their infighting. He was more concerned with the package he just opened. The note said the gift was once his fathers. He was puzzled until George asked him, "Harry, were did you get an invisibility cloak?"

"Is that what this is? I thought it was a really soft cloak."

The Weasley's were amazed when he put the cloak on and disappeared. Harry looked down. Nothing could surprise him about the wizarding world anymore. "So it is an invisibility cloak."

"Harrikins, you're obviously not viewing the big picture. Imagine the pranks we could pull with this power." Fred put in.

"We could prank Snape like no other. He'd never see it coming." George added

"We could sneak to the kitchens late and just talk about things." Ginny said.

The boys stopped talking and looked at her.

"That's her idea of a joke. Don't be fooled for a second Harrikins, She is twice as devious as we ever thought of being." Fred chuckled as Ginny flashed an angelic grin. "Like I said, not for one second."

Harry laughed, "I was thinking we'd prank Dean again."

"All we've done for the past month is prank Dean. He hardly leaves this room. We need a new target, Ginny?" Fred asked, looking at his sister.

"Well, this one second year Ravenclaw keeps staring at me in the hallways. We could try him." Ginny offered

"Who has been staring at you?" Harry asked a bit too quickly.

George snickered, "bit quick there Harry."

Harry slowly turned red, "I was just concerned for my friend, a good friend."

"Whatever Harry, you won't hear us arguing." Fred laughed.

"Hey Fred, lets go in the other room and laugh so that he won't hear us." George asked as he got up from his perch.

Fred soon followed him out, "Very good idea brother."

The twin's laughter could be heard in the hallway. Harry was down to his last two presents. He spotted the one from Ginny and opened it to reveal a badge. It was a simple sewn snitch that could pin to his robe or clothes. Harry was ecstatic though. It was simply the best present to date.

"Thanks Ginny, this is simply the best gift I've ever been given. Mine isn't nearly as good."

Ginny blushed, she had loved the scarf he'd bought for her. It was her favorite shade of green. How He'd known was beyond her. "Thanks, I sewed it myself. I sent it to Mum to have her put the pin on it, though."

"Then I'll have to thank her as well."

They each turned to their last gift. It was a simple unmarked box that had each of their names on it.

"These must be from Saint Nicholas." Ginny proclaimed

"I told you I wasn't going to fall for it Ginny."

"Don't be stubborn Harry, Saint Nick is real. He used to give a gift to all those pure at heart, but because there are so many people, he can only give them to those that are magic, like him." Ginny explained.

"So you're telling me Saint Nick is a wizard?" Harry asked

"How else could he get to everyone in one night?" Ginny asked like it was the most obvious thing.

Harry chuckled, only in the wizarding world. He stared at his last box. "What if someone doesn't get one?"

"People usually keep it a secret if they get a gift or not. It's very personal, and some are upset when they don't get one. For two people to share what gift they get is a deeply personal thing." Ginny explained as she fingered the tips of her box.

Harry was nervous as he looked at his, "So, are we going to open ours together."

Ginny smiled at him, "I don't see why not."

A/N: I got so tired of writing snowball, I started writing snow sphere. Hope you don't mind. Updates are coming slower now because I have regular sleep schedule and I am not alone as much as I usually am. Don't get much time. Plus my great grandmothers funeral, and a wedding today. Lots of things. Hope you liked holiday chapter.


	9. The Jar Speaks

A/N: My deepest apologies for the wait. You may not know that the last two chapters were unbeta'd as is this one. I am now again alone in this epic endeavor. My beta lost interest in the story, and that has a way of you losing your interest in your own story. That's what happened to me. I moved on, but what I realized is this isn't about me anymore. This isn't about the very small fan base this story exhibits. This is about me writing for the few fans I have. This isn't about me and I lost track of that, I'm truly sorry. The first part of the chapter may seem forced, but that's because it is. I hope that I can creatively pick up where I left off, but I doubt it. I'm going to completely reread my entire work to give myself a refresher. I hope I can rekindle the fire I once had for this story, reviews for this chapter would help beyond belief, but that isn't why I'm doing this. I'm doing this for all readers.

**Chapter 9: The Jar Speaks**

As far as Harry was concerned, January was the best month he had yet to spend at Hogwarts so far. The first half of the month consisted of a daily snowsphere fight, one in which Ginny was successfully able to drag Percy into. Percy's team lost.

The next half had been spent working on exam review for summer with Hermione. She turned out to be less than forgiving of tardiness. Harry had found out when he and Ginny were late one day, due to a group of Slytherin Prefects who just couldn't wait any longer to be pranked. It was almost February and that is where the trio found themselves. The library was generally filled with upper year students, but there were some rules even Hermione didn't follow.

"Harry, can you tell me what you get when you combine honeybee nectar, acromantula legs, and powdered root of Asphodel?"

"Hermione, Professor Snape hasn't taught us that potion yet." Harry complained.

"Well, you have to read ahead Harry. Professor Snape can't teach you everything. It's a recipe for a rudimentary shampoo for your information.

Ginny looked thoughtful, "Well that explains why Snape hasn't taught it too us."

"Probably doesn't know it himself." Harry jumped in before the two burst out laughing.

Hermione fought courageously to keep the smile off of her face, but even she couldn't win all the time as she ended up laughing with them. "I think that's enough studying for today, you two. You obviously can't keep your concentration on me long enough to learn."

"We could, we just chose not to. Not when there are more interesting things here to distract us." Ginny explained

"I agree, just look at that piece of mold over there Gin. It looks black from far of, but when you get closer it looks almost greenish." Harry added

"No Way! Tell me more about the mold Harry." Ginny giggled excitedly as she leaned onto his shoulder.

"Oh, it's no problem; I'm a textbook on the wonders of mold. My dear, would you like to know the difference between moist molds and water molds?"

"Oh Boy would I!"

Hermione shook her head at their antics while she concentrated on picking her books up off the table. She really enjoyed their company. They had made a concentrated effort since Halloween to spend more time with her, and now they hung out more of fondness than effort. She smiled remembering how great the past month had been. Most certainly the best month of her Hogwarts education.

She smiled and looked at the surrounding tables. She paused slightly when she saw a distressed Devon Creed sitting a couple of tables over. She had avoided him since that day she had awoken him to search for Harry and Ginny. She blushed at the memory. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't just ignore the sad boy a few tables over.

Hermione sighed and walked over and sat across from him. "Hello Devon. How is your schoolwork coming along?"

Devon looked up at her, "So you're talking to me again?"

Hermione frowned; she had thought he didn't even notice with all those girls that usually surrounded him. She decided to play dumb, "When have I ignored you?"

Devon shook his head, "Whatever. Can you go; I really need to be alone right now."

She saw through him, "Wouldn't you rather talk about it?"

"No," Devon said coarsely.

Hermione got up from the table; she wasn't one to take being talked to in that tone. She began to walk away.

"Wait Hermione," Devon called, "I do want to talk." He watched Hermione sit back down and fold her hands expectantly. He sighed, "Can you give me some advice?"

"Of course, are you behind in Charms again? I have noticed your posture has been a bit…"

"No" Devon interrupted, "I mean girl advice"

Hermione cocked her head in question, "Are you and Parvati having trouble?"

"No, Parvati and I broke up over Christmas break."

"I hadn't heard. Do you mind telling me why?" Hermione asked, pulling her hair behind her ears and smiling.

"I had to break up with her; I realized I couldn't lie to her anymore. I'm in love with someone else." Devon squirmed in his seat.

"Someone I know?" Hermione said, maybe too quickly.

Devon shook his head, "It doesn't matter. She could never love me back."

"Don't be so down on yourself. If you just told her I'm sure she'd reciprocate." Hermione offered.

"You don't understand Hermione; this isn't the type of girl you just confess your love to. She smart and sophisticated. She'd just laugh at me." Devon finished by slumping his shoulders and sighing.

Hermione smiled, she had a pretty good idea who it was. It wasn't like she would say no to him if he asked. He was a cute boy. She had an idea. "I have an idea; Valentine's Day is in a couple of week's right?"

Devon nodded his head unsurely.

"Well, if you do something incredibly sweet, I'm sure she couldn't possibly say no."

Devon's face lit up. "Of Course! I just need to make this the best Valentine's Day she has ever had. Thanks Hermione, you're a true friend." He sprung from the chair and dashed out of the library.

"No Running!!" Madame Pince shouted after him.

Hermione smiled as she walked back to her friends, just picking up the tail end of their conversation.

"So that's why mold is important to everyday life. Gee thanks Harry." Ginny fawned as she spoke.

Hermione couldn't believe they had stayed on the subject of mold the entire time she was gone. "I can't believe you stayed on the subject of mold the entire time I was gone." Hey, Hermione speaks her mind.

"You obviously don't understand the importance of mold Hermione. You see, it all started in 1762…"

"Harry, I don't have time for a bogus story about mold Harry. Curfew is in twenty minutes and if we don't get to the common room in time…" Hermione looked at their guilty faces, "You guys aren't planning on coming back to the common room are you?"

"Sorry Hermione, we have something big going on tonight." Ginny said, pulling away from Harry.

"Please don't tell me. If I know I'm obligated to report you. I'm going back to the tower and straight to my dorm. I'm going to assume you two changed your mind." Hermione said before turning and walking off.

"Good to see she still trusts us, eh?" Harry laughed

They had a lot of work to do tonight. They didn't want their next month at Hogwarts to be bland. They decided to perform a laundry list of pranks tonight. They were sticking to simple spells that they could easily perform. They did singing spells on the armor suits, and color changing charms on the silverware, nothing fancy.

"Harry, we should get back." Ginny whispered.

"Why? We haven't turned the dungeons pink yet."

"We forgot the cloak; I don't want to stay out to late without it."

Harry smiled, "Are you scared of getting in trouble?"

Ginny flashed him an angry look, "I most certainly not scared, I'm being cautious."

"Gin, we can't go back just yet, one more thing okay?"

Ginny sighed, "Okay"

The silence was interrupted by an ominous voice, "You should have listened to her Potter."

Harry stopped in his tracks, only two people called him by his last name exclusively. Draco Malfoy and… Harry turned and looked right into the eyes of Severus Snape.

Snape sneered down at them, "Busted"

Ginny shot Harry a look that clearly said she had told him so. They lowered their heads as they followed Snape to his office. Ginny was again silently working on her telepathy. She had yet to break through to Harry's mind, but she was persistent. The long trek to Snape's office in the dungeons was silent. Harry had dreams of being sent back to the Dursley's, while Ginny was upset about not being able to reach Harry through her mind. They obviously still needed more work.

Snape led them into his office; the shut door was the seal of their fate.

~*~

"You got suspended!" Hermione nearly screamed to the full common room.

"Not so loud Hermione, mold is sensitive to sound and you could…"

"Don't try Harry, I knew this would happen. You can't go to class all week. You're going to fall so behind." Hermione said frantically.

"I doubt you would let us fall too behind Hermione. At the rate you have us studying, we could use some falling behind." Ginny consoled, patting Hermione on the back.

"This is terrible; you can't even go to the library. How can you learn?"

"Hermione we'll be fine this week. We promise we'll read ahead in all of our books." Harry tried to bargain.

Hermione gave him a piercing stare before a strange look before sprinting to her room.

Ginny spoke to Harry, "She's about to give us homework."

Harry laughed, "I figured as much."

Hermione came rushing down with the jar that they had taken from the cave back on Halloween. "I want you guys to work on what this does while you're restrained to the common room." Hermione handed it to Harry as the bell rang for breakfast.

The common room emptied as Harry and Ginny went to the side table, where their food was to appear. They weren't allowed to leave the common room for any reason, all of the food was brought to them, and their homework was given to them by their classmates. Some students saw this as a deep punishment. Others…

"Hey Ginny, catch," Harry said as he threw her the Jar that Hermione had given them.

Ginny caught the jar with no effort, "Harry, we have to be careful with this. Hermione would chain us up by our toes if we broke it."

Harry smiled, "I don't think it'll break. If we can't so much as open it, what use is it?"

Ginny sighed as she thought, _'We have to keep it intact for Hermione's sake.'_

Harry looked thoughtful, "If you say so Gin."

Ginny was confused, "I didn't say anything Harry."

"I heard you clear as day; you said we needed to keep it intact for Hermione's sake."

"I didn't say that Harry, I just… thought…" Ginny squealed at the end, "Harry I've done it!"

Harry took a step back, "Done what?"

Ginny sat the jar down on the table, "What I've been trying to do all year! I said something to you with my mind."

"Your mind, Is that possible?" Harry questioned as he walked over to stand next to her.

"Obviously, I just did it. Tell me if you hear me." Ginny then thought _'Isn't this so cool?'_

Harry sat in silence and Ginny began to get impatient, "Well?"

Harry shrugged, "I didn't hear anything."

Ginny was shocked, "Didn't hear anything? You aren't messing with me are you Harry?"

Harry shook his head and Ginny rushed over to the stairs to her dormitory. He sighed and picked the Jar up off of the table. _'I believe you Ginny'_

Ginny stopped at the top of the stairs, tears evident in her eyes, "You do Harry?"

Harry momentarily looked confused and then looked down at the jar in his hands. Ginny seemed to catch on and came down the stairs to stand with him in observance of the black jar.

Harry decided now was as good at time as ever, _'Can you hear me'_ He thought to her.

Ginny's eyes bugged out '_Yes Harry, can you hear me.'_

Harry slowly shook his head, before they both broke into a huge smile and hugged each other, careful not to drop the jar.

Harry was ecstatic. "Ginny, think of what we can do with this," He looked over at the opening portrait hole to see Hermione entering to get her first lesson books, "We have to tell Hermione."

"Wait Harry," Ginny whispered as Hermione got closer, "She'll take it from us, she'll study it. We'll never get it back."

"How are you two enjoying your suspension?" Hermione asked as she approached her best friends. She didn't miss the pleading look Ginny gave Harry.

"Fine Hermione," Harry said, "I was just telling Ginny of the misunderstood grasshopper and how it shaped the twentieth century."

Hermione seemed skeptical, "I'm sure. Have you two been working on the jar?"

Harry held the jar protectively, "Not yet, we were going to sneak to the library later on and look up information."

Hermione scoffed, "Good luck, I've scoured the entire library looking for information about it. I'm convinced it's time to take it to a professor."

"NO!" Harry and Ginny shouted simultaneously.

"What we mean Hermione," Ginny recovered quickly, "Is we should get a little bit of time to figure it out ourselves. So were busy."

Hermione was about to say something before the bell rang, she simply shook her head and left for Charms.

~*~

The next two weeks were spent with Harry and Ginny head conversing and Hermione giving them strange look.

"Why must you always carry that jar around, you two never work on it?" Hermione questioned the day before Valentine's Day.

"We like to keep it in sight."Harry said after a pause.

Hermione sighed, she felt out of the loop since that week when they were suspended. They always seemed to be saying something, and she never saw one of them without the jar. "I don't have time for this; I have to get ready for tomorrow."

Harry looked confused, "Tomorrow is Saturday Hermione, why would you need to get ready for an off day."

Ginny giggled, "Wrong Harry tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Who's the boy Hermione?"

Hermione blushed, "I have no idea what you're talking about, good night."

They watched as she stomped off, _'Wanna go to the library tonight Gin?'_

Ginny smiled _'We've gone every night this week, and we still haven't found out anything about this jar.'_

Harry shrugged and left the common room with Ginny behind him.

They arrived at the library to find the doors locked.

'_Dang'_

Harry turned at the sound of swift moving feet down the hall.

'_Ginny, somebody's coming'_

'_Harry, what is the point of having an invisibility cloak if you never use it?'_

Harry shrugged and looked for something to hide behind. The only thing in the hallway was a giant mirror on the wall. Harry held the jar close as he thought. _'Please make us invisible'_

When he opened his eyes, his reflection was no longer in the mirror, neither was Ginny's. He turned to the side to see Ginny beside him looking as confused as he was. They turned to see Snape striding down the hallway and stopping directly in front of them.

"Potter, I know you here, and I'll have you expelled when I find you. After last week you don't stand a chance." Snape sneered as he walked off. Harry stood in place for a full five minutes before turning to Ginny and pulling her along the corridor. They carefully weaved through the hallways as they headed back to the common room. Once arriving they sat in front of the fire in silence.

'_Do you think…?'_

'_The Jar'_

'_It must be'_

'_But how?'_

~*~

Ginny woke up as her room mates hustled and bustled around the dorm room. Ginny forgot it was Valentine's Day, and it seemed every other girl had been up an hour preparing, even Hermione. Ginny sat up and yawned, she may as well look at bit better today than she usually does, for no reason of course.

In an opposite dorm, there sat a young savior thinking the same thing as he hopelessly tried to comb his hair. He sighed as Neville came over to his mirror. "The spell is _Afrus_"

"What Neville?" Harry asked

"To make your hair flat, the spell is _Afrus_" Neville repeated slowly.

Harry smiled, "Thanks Neville." He pointed his wand to his hair, "_Afrus_"

Harry's hair began to grow and curl into a giant Afro. Harry's mouth hung open in shock as Neville chuckled in the background. Harry turned around, "You were having one on me weren't you Neville?"

Neville shook his head, "The real spell is _Flatius_"

Harry pointed his wand to his head, "Wait, this isn't going to make me bald is it?" Neville shook his head no and Harry used the spell. He watched as his hair receded into a flat version of his old hair. "Thanks Neville."

Neville shrugged, "My uncle said my Dad used to do that to people all of the time."

Harry turned, "Used to?"

"Better get to breakfast Harry, You don't want to miss what Devon is going to do for the woman he claims to love." Neville said as he walked away.

"Woman he loves?" Harry shook his head _'kids these days'_

Harry walked down to the common room to find Ginny waiting for him. He stared as he reached the last step, and she blushed under his gaze. "You look great Gin."

She blushed and smiled back, "And you're wearing clothes today." She then looked up at his hair and frowned, "What happened to you hair?"

"Neville showed me a spell to flatten it. Did you know Neville tricked me today? I don't think I'll ever get over it."

Ginny laughed at his expense, just imagining what had happened.

"Oh ha ha, let's just go watch Devon make a fool of himself at breakfast. He's going to confess his 'love'" Harry began to pull Ginny off.

"Wait, he's going to what?"

~*~

Harry chose the seat next to a nervous Devon.

"So what's your plan Creed? Roses? Candy? Groveling?"

Devon smiled, "I put a lot of thought into this. I wrote home to Mom for ideas and spells. I lived in the library the past two weeks. This will be perfect."

Devon watched as Hermione came in and rushed towards her, "Oh Hermione thank you. Without you I wouldn't have the courage to do this. Do you think she'll truly like me back?"

Hermione smiled flirtatiously, "Devon, I know it."

The students all took their seats. Hermione kept sending Devon little smiles, Devon kept shifting in his seat, and Harry couldn't wait for the eggs. The feast began after Dumbledore gave a speech about love being the greatest power. The students ate in silence as owls dropped roses and love letters to random girls. Suddenly the doors opened and a thousand rose petals blew and circled over head. Snape looked ready to dissipate the cloud before Dumbledore held up his hand to stop him. The petals circled the four tables and the beautiful sound of harp music began to emit itself from the cloud. Devon's voice could be heard:

_Ever since I've known you, I've been your fool. Though others misunderstood you and thought you strict, I saw through it and never quit. You're the smartest woman I've ever known. And this is only a reason that it's you I love. You're strong and smart and courageous, you never hesitate to put me in my place_.

Hermione's smile had grown gigantic throughout the entire exchange.

_That's why I love you and hope you return, my love to me, Professor McGonagall._

The entire hall was silent for two seconds before everyone in the hall burst into laughter. Professor McGonagall wore a shocked expression on her face, and Devon ran out of the room. Ginny turned to Hermione to find her in tears, happy tears. Even if she had thought it was meant for her, the twist was too funny to laugh at.

Professor Dumbledore stood to silence the crowd, laughing himself. "It seems it is best to end breakfast now, off you go."

Before Harry left, he was sure he had seen even Snape smile. Out in the entrance hall he and Ginny met in a corner laughing. "I can't believe Devon did that."

Ginny smiled "Love makes people do strange think Harry." They looked into each other's eyes for as a comfortable silence passed.

Harry was the first to speak, "You really don't like my hair flat do you?"

Ginny looked thoughtful, "It's just not you, and not nearly as cute."

Harry smiled, "Then maybe you'll like this better," He pointed his wand to his head, _Afrus_.

Ginny laughed uproariously at his afro for a full minute, "Ha, Okay Harry, now change it back."

Harry shook his head, his hair swaying with him, "I think I like it like this."

Ginny took out her wand, "Don't make me change it back."

"Be my guest," Harry took off sprinting and Ginny took off after him.

Dumbledore watched from where he exited the Great Hall. It was refreshing to see the drastic change in Harry since he started at Hogwarts. He had a feeling it all had to do with Mrs. Weasley. He walked back to his office, intent on enjoying the rest of his day.

When he arrived back he found Hagrid waiting for him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Professr Dumbledore sir, we had another attack sir, this time on our defense teacher." Hagrid said frantically

Dumbledore sighed, "Have you found it yet?"

Hagrid shook his head, "No sir, we can't find it."

Dumbledore sighed, "I was sure it was going to be in that cave Minerva had found last week."

"It's completely empty sir, except for a nearly decayed acromantula. It had a sword piercing in it."

Dumbledore cradled his head in his hands, propping up his half moon spectacles, "We must not let the Obsidian Jar fall into the wrong hands Hagrid, and the result could very well destroy the world."

A/N: I thought this came out pretty well, only took two days to write. I hope it is fine unbeta'd. Last chapter was my most reviewed chapter and I hope this one breaks the record. It would bump the next chapter up on my queue of stories I'm writing.


	10. Family Affairs

A/N: This story is behind in the Poll for which story I should update. And, I just realized nobody has connected the wizard card from the train ride to what Dumbledore says at the end of Chapter 9.

**Chapter 10: Family Affairs**

Harry ran as far as his legs would take him, he was now on the second floor. He didn't know how much longer he could run. He had a crazy witch chasing after him, and his fro was slowing him down. He decided to turn and capitulate.

"I give!" Harry said as he turned, looking pleadingly into the chocolate eyes of his prey.

She smiled menacingly, "I knew you would. You are not nearly quick enough to run from me."

Harry frowned, "It's the hair, and it makes me less aerodynamic."

Ginny smiled as she waved her wand, "_Finite Incantatum_"

Harry's hair (Hee hee) fell into place as it usually did, that is to say all over the place.

Harry huffed and put his hands on his knees, "Well you may have won this time Miss Weasley, but next time…"

"I'll win again?" Ginny giggled as she stowing her wand, not feeling tired at all.

"Maybe," Harry huffed out examining her standing before him unfettered by their prior chase. He obviously needed to get in shape.

Ginny smiled at him and they descended into a comfortable silence. She patiently waited for Harry to get his breath back as they. She turned and looked at the old familiar castle around her. She smiled, having a memory from every landing. Turning back around to Harry, she saw two more trouble makers in their party than normal.

"That was quite a show, wouldn't you agree?" Fred laughed

"I would have to, poor Creed ran out of their in tears didn't he?" George came back

"Not very fitting coming from the Noble House of Creed." The twins laughed

Ginny glared at them, "Don't you think the poor boy has suffered enough?"

The twins shared a smile, "Probably," started George

"But that doesn't compare to the suffering somebody owes us." Finished Fred

Ginny sighed, "Whatever your about to say, I'm not going to like am I?"

The twins smiled maniacally, George stepped forward, "Didn't you find it weird that you didn't get a howler the week you were suspended?"

Ginny frowned, "I had wondered…"

Fred laughed, "Of course you did, and we know our mother. It's almost as if somebody…"

"Somebody amazing"

"… helped you out," Fred finished after his brother interrupted him.

"You two didn't." Ginny gasped as George pulled an official looking Hogwarts letter from his robe.

"Broke about thirteen rules to get it, caught it midair."

"Had to replace it with a letter expressing concern over your desire to become a pig tamer after you graduate."

Ginny inhaled sharply, "You had better be joking."

Fred shrugged, "It was either that or 'Dancing Ninja'."

George nodded, "Now what shall we extract in return Fred?"

"Isn't the upcoming summer of torture from mum enough?" Ginny asked hopefully, "she's going to drop hints nearly every day about my need to change my outlook and such."

The twins looked at each other and laughed.

Fred shook his head as he turned to Harry, "What do you think Harry?"

The three Weasleys turned to look at Harry as he sat against the wall, finally gaining back his breath. "Can I not be a part of this?"

"Oh but you are Harry." George said.

Harry looked back and forth between Ginny and the twins before dropping his head, "Awww."

The twins smiled about to drop the bombshell before Harry and Ginny's knight in shining armor came down the stairs.

"If you children are done messing around, we have Quidditch practice." A very irritated Oliver Wood said.

Harry smiled as he got up. He grabbed Ginny's hand and quickly led her up the stairs. They passed a handful of snickering fifth years.

Harry turned to Ginny, "What are they laughing at?"

Ginny shrugged, "Just ignore them."

Harry kept walking. His thoughts returned to the object that had captured his attention the past weeks: The jar with the strange rune on the side. He had always got a weird feeling from the jar. Lately, he noticed, when either he or Ginny held the jar, almost anything was possible. They could become invisible on command, speak telepathically, and even knew every answer to their homework. The last one frustrated Hermione to no end. She was too smart, they had begun to hide the jar under the table and touch the bare part of their leg to either side, giving them subtle contact. During these times the acting like they were thinking hard on their answers, but they were silently conversing telepathically. Sometimes Harry wished he could carry it around wherever he went, but he knew that would look suspicious. As a rule they never took it out of the common room, unless they were out of bounds after curfew. Harry sighed; sometimes he felt a certain coldness in his hand that could only be quenched by two things: one was the power of the jar, and the other occupied his hand at this very moment.

Harry turned and looked at Ginny; she looked back with eyes that said she had been having the same thoughts. He looked down, he hadn't realized that he still held her hand from when he dragged her off earlier, she didn't show a sign of letting go. He smiled and drifted back into thought.

Ginny smiled as she saw him unfocus, she knew he was thinking about the jar again. She had been feeling the effect of the jar more and more. It was a depressing feeling when it wasn't in sight. The feelings of power that she knew Harry felt as well. She sighed as they arrived to the common room. She and Harry separated their hands; they didn't want anybody to get the wrong idea about them.

A quick change later and they were back on their way down to the Quidditch pitch. Oliver had them practicing four times a week. The upcoming game decided if they won the Quidditch cup or not. They were playing Ravenclaw, who led in points. Ravenclaw had faltered in last week's match, as they tied to a revamped Hufflepuff, 150-150. All they had to do was beat Ravenclaw by seventy points in their upcoming match and the cup was theirs. Harry smiled; Hermione had shown him the Quidditch Cups his father had won while at Hogwarts, there were three actually. He would be the next Potter to add one to the Trophy Room, and certainly not the last. ₁

Practice went on as usual. Harry caught the snitch multiple times, Ginny put on a good show with Oliver and the girls, and the twins were hitting the bludgers back and forth. Harry expertly dodged another bludger from the twins, which they kept saying they had 'misaimed'. Harry shrugged it off; twins will be twins after all.

After practice, something a bit more memorable happened. As they were leaving the locker rooms, they saw Devon Creed pummeling a Crabbe and Goyleless Draco Malfoy. Oliver and the twins rushed to separate the two fighting boys. Fred and George each held one of the boys. Devon who was trying to attack Malfoy; and Malfoy, who was trying to run away.

Oliver stood between them, "What is going on out here?"

"Just you wait till my father hears about this." Malfoy shuddered out.

Oliver took a look of loathing towards Malfoy, but nonetheless stepped forward and pointed his wand to Malfoy's broken nose, "_Episkey_"

Malfoy's shattered nose instantly reset itself, although a bit crooked. Harry watched as Oliver smiled, and had the distinct impression that Oliver could have done a much better job with the repair. Malfoy felt his nose and sneered.

Oliver cleared his throat in an authoritative way, "Who would like to tell me what is going on here?"

"Malfoy doesn't know how to keep his big dumb mouth shut." Devon seethed, still being held back.

Oliver surprised everybody by laughing, "Of all the things to get mad over, you pick Malfoy's inability to be decent."

Malfoy smirked, "At least I have a father, unlike this wretch. Maybe if he hadn't died he could have taught you some taste in women."

Devon burst forward again, held in place by the struggling twins, who had to lift him off the ground to keep him in place. "At least my father loved me Malfoy, he died for me. Would your daddy die for you? He would probably offer you up to save himself, wouldn't he."

"Save it boys, too much farther and I will have to report you to the rightful authorities." Oliver warned.

Malfoy scoffed, "I demand you take me to the headmaster to have him expelled."

Oliver narrowed his eyes, "Look around Malfoy, tell me what you see." Malfoy looked but didn't see what he was talking about. "The team Malfoy; we have eight Gryffindors out here and one Slytherin. Seem s bit uneven? Anything you decide to say to Snape will be overturned by our numbers. I suggest you forget about it and go back to your room. I already fixed you nose after all."

"Good job you made of it, it's obviously crooked." Malfoy sneered.

Oliver drew himself to his full height, a threatening five seven to the small first year, "March."

Malfoy wasted no time in turning and leaving. Oliver waited a minute before telling his team to go in. Alicia dropped her head and walked past and up the stairs, she was followed by Oliver. Katie looped her arm around Devon's and physically dragged him away. Only the twins stayed behind. Harry stepped forward and held the front door for Ginny.

She smiled at him, "Why thank you Mister Potter."

Harry was about to respond before the twins pushed past him, "Yeah thanks Harry."

"You're a real pal for holding the door for us Weasleys." George laughed.

Harry shook his head, bit down an insult, and followed the trio in front of him. He watched as the twins all but skipped ahead, the excitement of the fight not lost on them. Harry was curious as to why Devon had flow off the handle at Malfoy's remark on his dead father. Harry had lost both of his parents, and had not given in to one of his taunts for even a second. There must be something else there.

"Just saw history we did." Fred said from up ahead. (Hee hee)

George nodded, "I could almost feel history changing as they spoke."

Harry perked up his head, "What are you talking about?"

"A fight between a Malfoy and a Creed; the Malfoy's and the Creed's have been fighting for years. It's the oldest pureblood rivalry. Every significant event in the past three hundred year has been started or finished by one of the two families."

Ginny fell in step beside Harry amazed at the twin's knowledge, "How do you know all this. I've never taken you two for history buffs."

Harry smiled as Ginny walked close enough that their clasped hands were hidden by their bulky robes.

Fred smiled,"Dear sister, you misunderstand us. Dad loves to talk about history."

"And we of course only listen to the good parts." George added.

Fred nodded, "And the Creed-Malfoy rivalry is one of the bloodiest in history. I bet it was old Lucius that did Papa Creed in to begin with."

Ginny stiffened beside him, "You mean you think Draco's dad killed Devon's dad?"

"That's what dad says, says they couldn't prove it."

"How inconvenient," Fred interrupted as they reached the third floor.

"The rumor was that Papa Creed was working on something big. That's why You Know Who had him targeted." George finished.

"What was he working on?" Harry asked curiously

Fred shrugged, "No one knows for sure, but it was said that he was close to finding a defense for the killing curse."

Ginny gasped, "But that's supposed to be impossible!"

"True, that why he was supposedly killed," Fred answered

George stopped as if puzzled, "Dad said that the month before he was killed, Devon's father was seen carrying around a large portion of his personal notes, he was supremely paranoid about it."

Fred stopped beside him, "I know, Dad mentioned that it was never found."

Harry stopped to think as well, "Maybe it is…"

Fred never let him finish the thought, "Don't think we forgot about our conversation earlier. Meet us tonight at midnight in the common room. No escaping this time."

With that Fred and George disappeared into the library.

"I bet you they aren't looking up school work." Ginny laughed.

"Ginny, that is a bet I would never take." Harry smiled as he and Ginny began to walk towards the common room.

Once there Ginny rushed to her dorm, it had been her night to keep the Jar in her room. She rushed to her chest and opened it to find the Jar missing.

She would have screamed if she hadn't seen Hermione on the bed next to hers holding it. "What's so special about this jar Ginny?"

Ginny stopped; it was an innocent enough question. However it was one she wasn't willing to answer, "What do you mean Hermione?"

Hermione smirked, "What do I mean? I mean you are Harry have it with you whenever you guys are in the common room. One of you two rush up to their dorm as soon as you get back every day and come down with it. I just want to know what's so special about it."

Ginny shrugged; there was no good answer to satisfy Hermione. One misstep and she knew she would be on their scent. She collected her breath, "Hermione, me and Harry just like to keep it around as motivation not to forget to figure out its secret."

Hermione nodded, lie accomplished, "I understand Ginny, and it is a wonder what it was doing in that cave to begin with. It doesn't seem to have any special use, it doesn't open, no matter who is holding it. It seems useless. The rune on it translates to Obsidian, which is a smooth volcanic rock that the jar was made from. What is so special about some Obsidian Jar?" Hermione paused, "Wait that sounds familiar…" She sprung up from the bed and ran out of the dorm, obviously for the library.

Ginny was amazed as she watched her go. She shook her head as she approached Hermione's bed and picked up the left behind Jar. Homing in on Harry's thoughts she asked, "_Harry, Hermione just…"_

"_I know. Mental she is."_

A/N: A ton of things came up in this chapter, including the entire purpose of my fifth book of this series. This Chap was a bit shorter than the rest, but the story is winding down. Now don't forget to vote in my profile poll. I expect a comeback from this story, it has no votes yet. Too those who wondered what Harry and Ginny's Christmas gifts were. It might come up later, but it's a personal thing to them, not really plot oriented. It could be as simple as a picture of a lost family member.


	11. The Hurt They Cause

A/N: Interest may be dried up for the many that this story once captivated, but I am no quitter, and if there is even one person that still cares about this story out there, then these last four chapters are for you. I will try to press them out quickly; it is my duty to see this bastard child through to the end. Who knows, I may write the second one after this, and it may a child of mine that I can love. This chapter is for you Karl Skywalker, whose review is the solitary reason I am updating and soon finishing this story. Also to Siriusmunchin, whose reviews have been the most stable of all. So you know; this is the first chapter with actual emotional turmoil.

**Chapter 11: The Hurt They Cause**

Hermione was scarce seen over the next few weeks. When they did see her she was hovering over an overly large history tome, and being very unconversational. Every once in a while she would mutter something under her breath. One time she even began to scold the book she was reading very loudly, prompting everybody but Harry and Ginny to slowly back away from her table. Due to the evil stares she was giving the Jar, they had decided not to bring it down to the Common Room any longer.

The jar was a complete other problem. Over the last week, it had begun to affect them very differently. There seemed to be a deep magic around the jar and it almost called to them. Harry and Ginny were now the only ones in the common room besides Hermione, who was completely immersed in her book.

Ginny turned to Harry and quietly whispered, "Can I talk to you?"

Harry looked up from their game of chess and nodded. He let her lead him over to the corner of the common room, "Something the matter Ginny?" Harry asked as he took the seat across from her.

Ginny took some time to collect her thoughts before answering, "Yes and no Harry. I've just been really worried about some things lately."

Harry understood what she meant; he had been feeling the same over the past few days. Ever since the day Hermione started to give the Jar hard stares. Since they had abandoned it in Harry's trunk. Maybe it was because he missed talking to Ginny without using words, maybe it was the extraordinary magic they had accomplished while practicing their homework that they just couldn't recreate in class without the Jar. He understood the weakness they felt without it very well. He nodded to tell her to continue.

Ginny understood, "It's just that I used to be so sure of myself before the Jar, living with the twins does that, but lately…" She looked away from him and began to twirl and pull on her hair.

"Whatever it is Gin, I'm sure it's nothing. I think you're as good as you ever were in class. It's in your head. If we just read a bit more…" Harry began

"I'm not talking about stupid schoolwork Harry. I'm talking about…" Ginny began to blush, and then looked faint, then red again. She didn't stop though. "I'm talking about us Harry."

Harry was taken aback, and the way he subtly flared his eyebrows showed this, "Us?"

Ginny nodded, color returning.

"How can you be unsure about us?" Harry asked, genuinely confused with her statement.

She shrugged in response and looked out the window and upon the dark night. His eyes followed hers. He knew they needed closure on this, but it was obvious from her actions that she was done talking for now. Refusing to leave her, he sat next to her and stared out the tower window as well. And there they sat for what seemed like an eternity. For all the answers that both of them wanted, all they got were more questions.

~*~

"Harry, I think we need to talk about something." Hermione told him urgently the next day in the corridor.

Harry rubbed his shoulder nervously, "Hermione, now's not a great time. I've got some things going on right now that I need to deal with."

Hermione patted his shoulder, "I saw you and Ginny talking last night, is something wrong."

Harry shrugged, "No, at least I don't think so. I hope not." He sighed, "I thought you'd be too busy in bookland to even notice us talking."

Hermione brightened, "Oh thank you for reminding me Harry. That reminds me that I need to see that Jar of yours."

"The Jar?" Harry asked surprised. "Why would you need to see it?"

Hermione stared him down, "Maybe because one of the most powerful dark objects in history has been under our noses for the past six months."

Harry scoffed, "The Jar is not evil Hermione, and it has not been six months."

"Oh yes it has. You got it from that cave on Halloween night last October. It's halfway through April now Harry." Hermione interjected.

Harry quickly did the math in his head let his shoulders slump, "That's only five and a half months."

"That is close enough Harry, don't try to distract me. You know that all of this makes sense. Teachers have been patrolling the forest for the first time in nearly fifty years. They seem to be looking for something, and you seemed to have found something pretty odd in itself. It' probably got a ton of dark powers that you're too decent posses. Harry that thing is called 'The Obsidian Jar'. It contains the ashes of the most powerful evil wizard of all time, Blackthorn. He was finally defeated by Godric Gryffindor's uncle Gregory LeRoux. He was too powerful to die though."

Harry raised his hands, "Hermione, I will not hear another word about it. The powers aren't evil, they never have been. They've actually saved us many times." Harry paused at the stunned look on Hermione's face, racking his brain for what he could have said.

"Powers? It has powers, and you never told me about it." Hermione seemed to withdraw into herself in thought; the look on her face seemed to be a shadow of the vulnerable Hermione they had met on the train, which was a disturbing thought.

"Hermione you don't understand, if we had told you we knew you would think it was a dark power, or have it taken by the professors." Harry tried to explain.

"As it should have been Harry." Hermione began to yell. "It WAS a dark artifact, and it SHOULD have been turned over to Dumbledore himself." She poked his chest hard with each key word.

"Hermione, I'm sorry about the Jar. We were wrong…" Harry tried as he noticed people stopping to look, including the Slytherin Trio.

"Sorry about the Jar! Harry I couldn't give a damn about that bloody Jar. You didn't tell me about it Harry. Neither you nor Ginny trusted me enough to tell me about it. Your were worried so bloody much about that bloody Jar that you wouldn't be bothered with how this makes me feel, could you Boy Wonder?"

"Now that isn't fair Hermione. We care about you and you know it." Harry's voice rose as he puffed his chest out to the Hermione that had worked herself into tears.

"You don't have to explain it to me Harry. If you two care so much about that damn Jar then I'll keep your secret for you. I'm just glad that I know where I stand with you two now. I know that you two lied through your teeth on my birthday."

Harry started as she walked away, "Hermione, you haven't let me get a word in edge wise. Let me explain it to you."

Hermione scoffed wiping a tear, "I don't need your words Harry. Your actions have told me more than I need to know. And you can study for the exams by yourself."

Harry stood in shock as she walked off. He turned to the laughing Malfoy, ready for a fist fight.

"What's wrong Potter, she didn't think you were a good kisser? That's rich, even a mudblood won't have you" Malfoy laughed as Crabbe and Goyle looked confused, but smiled anyway.

Harry would have hit him if Ginny hadn't some down the stairs right as Malfoy commented on him 'kissing' Hermione. Her eyes said it all. All the hurt and personal betrayal she was feeling.

Harry stepped forward, "Ginny, he's lying. It's Malfoy."

Ginny slowly backed up before running up the stairs she had just come from. Harry stood in shock as the Slytherin began to throw ball of parchment at him and laughing. He vaguely recalled somebody dragging him out of the Castle, he hardly felt himself being led to the lake.

~*~

"Sit down Potter. The fresh air will clear your head." Devon said as he sat next to him on the bank of the lake.

Harry looked around at the secluded spot around the lake before sitting, "Thanks Devon."

He shrugged, "You looked like you needed some thinking time. This is the spot were I do mine. I think of it as my spot actually so don't go snitching, eh Potter?"

Harry chuckled, "I wasn't even paying attention to how we got here, and I was too busy thinking about the series of unfortunate events back there."

Devon nodded, "Understandable. I try to stay away from drama so stuff like this doesn't happen."

Harry snorted, "You stay away from drama?"

"Of course, I seem to be a master at it. I just keep my distance from you and it naturally stays away from me. This however is public service by cheering up the boy who lived." Devon braced for the punch that didn't come, "Dude, that was a revenge punch moment."

Harry shook his head, "Sorry, I was still thinking about you straying from drama, the boy that dumped his eleven year old girlfriend because he was in love with our seventy something year old Transfiguration teacher." Harry braced for the punch, and it did come. Hard.

"I didn't say it worked all the time." His eyes seemed to glaze over in thought. "Man, did you see her when you played that prank. I watched Star Wars over Christmas break, and it turns out she was some princess named Leia. It reverted Minerva to her younger self to look more like her."

"Minerva?"

"Man, did you see that metal bikini on her?"

"I think this conversation is over Devon. This is way to gross for my taste." Harry said while fake gagging.

Devon shrugged, "Your lose 'Boy Wonder." He laughed until seeing the look on Harry's face, "Too soon?"

Harry was reminded of what had just happened. Hermione had called him Boy Wonder during her tirade. Harry groaned, "How am I going to fix this?"

"Just give them chocolate and they'll jump into your arms, that's what Parvati did to me. All girls love chocolate." Devon rationalized.

"I don't want them to jump into my arms. I just want to go back to the way it was." Harry said as he threw a pebble across the lake.

"Everybody wants thing to stay the same Harry, me and you are no different. But it can't and all me and you can do in life is take situations like these and make them better. The best you can do is use this to make your friendships with Hermione and Ginny stronger. Think of it as a bone. When it breaks and heals it is twice as strong."

"That was oddly philosophical. That was actually pretty good, though it isn't really your thing." Harry said with a tone of awe.

Devon laughed, "Isn't my thing? I grew up with two sisters and no father. I'm nothing if not sensitive and philosophical."

Harry nodded, "This from the guy that was telling me about a young McGonagall in a bikini."

"Obviously don't understand where I'm coming from, let me just tell you…"

"I don't want to hear it actually. Will you lead me back to the Castle?" Harry asked, getting up.

"I should make you wander around for the night until the departed souls of the Marauders take pity on you," Devon said as he got up and brushed himself, "But I'll be nice because it you."

Harry followed Devon back with his head down as the sun set. He had a ton to do tomorrow. He had to explain the misunderstanding to Ginny and win back Hermione's friendship; he thought he knew just how. Not to mention the match with Ravenclaw that was rescheduled for tomorrow, and they had to win by a huge margin to win the Quidditch Cup. Even the Boy who Lived would be tested by how hard tomorrow would be.

A/N: The next chapter should come soon. There might be a couple after that. Three left. Quidditch, Fight, End. It should be fun; maybe if I finish strong we won't have to wait a couple months for the second one to be started like I had planned. Here's to the continued American relationship with Israel, no matter how hard our ignorant President tries to exclude them.


	12. The Greatest Blunder

A/N: This next chapter is the much clamored for sequel to the drama presented in the last chapter. It is the end of the drama between Harry and Ginny in a big way, for better or worse. Be thinking of how you think I am going to end the first season of Quidditch, will they go with or without the cup? A special thanks to BenPerez31, who may or may not be 31, remember to fill out your Census kids. Being 18, I unfortunately do not get a census

**Chapter 12: The Greatest Blunder**

Harry chose to go straight to the tower after he reached the Entrance hall. He said his thanks to Devon and parted ways, while Devon and the entire Castle were at Dinner. He knew that he would regret his decision come game time tomorrow, but his return to the castle quickly harkened back the emotional turmoil of earlier that day. He looked up morosely as he passed a picture of a dancing beggar.

'What right do you have to be so happy?' Harry thought to himself as he watched it. Stopping on the third floor landing to analyze it. It was a simple moving picture he usually saw adorning the halls of the Castle, but this one was different. He had not seen this one before. The beggar was dancing gaily, but it was obvious from his surroundings that the man was dreadfully poor. In the background a house was burning, obviously it was his. How could a man who had nothing be so jubilant?

Leaning forward, Harry saw an engraving on the bottom part of the frame.

'_Through the Lord's Providence, we as men shall prevail. Though the world may be collapsing around us, we must stand tall in all times of Darkness. Be of sure mind that this too shall pass.'_

This simple phrase held a sort of power for Harry. As he pondered, he saw carvings in the wood around the picture, initials of past students. He decided to add his to the right side of the frame as well, spending time to punctuate his work. He stood back and looked.

'_H.J.P. - 91'_

He smiled and began again his trek up the stairs, fully confident that whatever was going on between him and his friends would play out happily. His hopeful dream made climbing the stairs easier and let his mind wander to tomorrows Quidditch match. It promised to be a colossal challenge to say the least. Ravenclaw had lost no steam so far and had a sixty point lead over Gryffindor Quidditch Team. That means they only had to win by sixty points, he just had to catch the snitch before Ravenclaws incredibly skilled chasers had a chance to take over the game, all three are upper years being actively scouted for a professional career. News was that Chuck Fields, their left Open Chaser, was considering skipping his Seventh Year and playing for Sweetwater, an American team out of Texas.

Harry shook his head of his thoughts as he reached his almost empty room. He walked in, fully intent on ignoring the world for the night, before he heard quiet crying from the corner of the room. He turned slowly, "Neville?"

*sniff* "Hiya Harry" Neville's face was completely covered in blood, his nose twisted in an odd and unnatural way.

Harry moved closer to examine his roommate's face, "What happened to you Neville?" concern prominent in his voice.

Neville absentmindedly wined some blood from his mouth, "It's nothing now Harry. Dean and his gang thought it would be funny to tie my shoe strings together before I came down the stairs. It only looks bad. It's not the first time he's bloodied me up."

"What are you talking about Neville; I've never seen you like this." Harry said as he took his shoulder, "We'll talk about this on the way to the Hospital Wing."

Neville shrugged as he let Harry lead him away. "It's alright; I don't like to be a bother. The last time is when he put a flobberworm in my bed, I got so scared when I felt it crawling on me that I jumped out of bed, but I landed wrong on my arm and broke it. Dean and Seamus laughed while Devon rushed me to the Hospital Wing."

"Neville, I don't remember any of this ever happening." Harry said as they jumped out the portrait hole.

"It's okay, that was the night you and Ginny snuck out to enchant Snape's robes to laugh at him when someone walked by." Neville said, "At least this isn't as bad as when Dean hid a piece of Chicken in my robe and a wild dog attacked me on the way to Herbology. Shred me up in some pretty rough places."

"Wow," Harry said, genuinely sorry, "I had no idea this stuff was going on. Believe me I would have stopped it."

"I know you would Harry, but that was the day you and Ginny ran off to get Hermione out of the forbidden forest. You guys were gone for hours." Neville stopped to re-tie one of his shoes and Harry opened the door to the Hospital Wing.

Madame Pomfrey sighed as she saw Harry come in. "Please tell me you're not boiling anymore illegal exploding potions."

"No I here for."

"Ran into any more dangerous beast while out of bounds in the forest?"

Harry shook his head aggressively.

"No, then have you accidently swallowed another mothball?"

"That was one time…"

"Or is like the time that you came to me because you were worried that the gum you swallowed was going to stay in your stomach for seven year?"

"No Maam, this is for a friend," Neville chose this time to walk into the room, bloody face and all. Madame Pomfrey gasped before rushing him to a bed where she fixed his nose, wiped his face, and fed him a blood replenishing potion. She began to tut and then fusses over him.

"You will have to stay until tomorrow, obviously." Madame Pomfrey concluded with a sharp nod, as if daring him to contradict her wishes.

Harry was ready to jump to Neville's defense, but Neville just nodded and lay down, having already been in his night clothes before they came to the Hospital Wing.

Madame Pomfrey narrowed her as if to check Neville for any falsehoods written upon his face. Finding none, she bid the boys good night, gave Harry a hard stare and left to her quarters.

Harry laughed nervously, "I don't think she likes me much mate."

Neville shifted on his bed, "Have you given any reasons to like you?"

Harry bowed his head in thought, "There was the time we turned Draco green and he came to her after we convinced him he was seasick from the boat ride here."

Neville looked at him questioningly, "But Harry, You turned Malfoy green three months after we got to school."

Harry shrugged, "We convinced him that it was repressed. Listen, all I can say is he's not exactly the sweetest Treacle Tart is he?"

Neville laughed, "Inbreeding does that to a person."

Harry was almost stunned at Neville's candor, but ended up laughing uproariously at the humor.

Neville laughed to, surprised at his own joke. "What was that you said Harry? Not the sweetest treacle tart, where did you get that one."

Harry chuckled, "It's just something Ginny likes to say."

An uncomfortable silence followed. Neville cleared his throat, "I was in the hallway. I do not think that something that snide Malfoy would say would get between what you two have. And when the shock settles, I'm sure she's going to realize it too."

Harry stood with his hands in his robe pockets, "You think so?" He watched Neville nod and exhaled, "Thanks mate. See you tomorrow."

Neville held up his hand, "One second Harry, I'm coming with you."

"You can't Neville; Madame Pomfrey said that you had to stay the night." Harry reasoned.

Neville shook his head; "She said till tomorrow," a soft chiming from the other side of the castle interrupted him. Neville rose from his bed, "And by the looks of it, now it is tomorrow."

Harry nodded impressed as Neville followed him into the corridor, "You're a lot sneakier than I would have thought at the beginning of the year. You have a bit more marauder in you than you let on."

The trek back to the Gryffindor Tower was made in companionable silence. While Neville was silently reveling in him and Harry's increase in friendship today, Harry was worrying about the tearing of another. His uneasiness was somewhat settled when he arrived back at his room to find a note on his bed.

_Harry,_

_Came to talk, but you were not here. I waited for as long as I could, but Seamus was talking in his sleep, words I would not dare repeat in front of my mother, let alone you. I was afraid he would mention my name next after the rest of the girls. I talked Hermione down, she told me what happened and I think we need to talk._

_Always You Friend  
Ginny (NOT GINEVRA)_

_Harry smiled as he read the letter, he would sleep much easier tonight._

_~*~_

_Harry had not slept well last night. Today was the game against Ravenclaw, and it rested completely on his shoulders. They had pulled such a victory over Hufflepuff in their last match that they had pulled this close, but none of that mattered today; it was all about him in the air looking for a golden ball the size of a large golf ball. In addition, the Ravenclaw seeker was a Seventh year who had started for five years, while he was a rookie at the game. Another regret he had, his decision to not eat dinner last night. How could it get any worse? Oh yeah, he had over slept and had to be on the field in ten minutes. He threw his Quidditch Robes on over his night clothes, grabbed his broom, and jumped out of his window, making sure to kick off the edge. This ensured he did not fall to a grizzly death, but not that he would be on time._

_~*~_

_The Gryffindor Quidditch Team could only watch as their Captain went bald right in front of their eyes. The door being thrown open interrupted his fifteen minute rant._

"_Am I late?" A frenzied Harry Potter said_

_Fred Weasley dropped his head, "We had to forfeit mate."_

_Harry was aghast and before he could explode with apologies, Katie broke, and soon everybody was laughing. Even Ginny had a smile on her face. One person who did not laugh, or smile, or show any sign of humanistic compassion was one Oliver Wood. If the announcer had not called their team at that very moment, he was sure that Oliver would have hexed him._

_Harry slowly lined up in his place in the back next to Ginny as they walked to the tunnel._

"_Good luck." Ginny said before she flew out_

_He followed her into the screaming crowd, who had no idea that anything was wrong._

"_And here is their seeker, Harry Potter!" an excited Lee Jordan cried through the microphone."The youngest seeker in a century is hoping to become the youngest Quidditch Cup winner in Hogwarts History. But can he stand up over the pressure of the big game?"_

_Harry flew into place as Madame Hooch released the balls, Harry's eyes snapping to the snitch as it streaked off. With the Quaffle thrown, the game was on. Harry immediately took off in the direction the snitch had gone. His competition, the Seventh Year Seeker, was also on a new Nimbus 2000 broom, no advantage there. He would have to be far more cunning if he hoped to beat the competition. It would take his full concentration, and a little bit of luck._

"_This game is completely up to the Seekers. As long as the keepers do not let it get out of hand, whoever catches the snitch will win this game along with the Quidditch Cup. Rumors abound over Potter's mental stability for this game. After a much talked about corridor fight…"_

"_Jordan, this is a Quidditch game, not a trashy tabloid, stick to the game cast." McGonagall's voice interrupted. _

"_As you wish Professor, but I think it's very relevant to the game that we discuss his relationship with…" Lee was again interrupted, but this time by a very well aimed Quaffle from Ginny Weasley._

_Madame Hooch blew her whistle, "FOUL!"_

_Ginny didn't seem to upset as she recovered the Quaffle, accidently hitting Jordan in the head with her broom handle as she turned and threw Madame Hooch the Quaffle._

"_An obvious low blow by Miss Weasley, Gryffindor Chaser." Lee grumbled as he rubbed his head._

"_Serves you right Mister Jordan. You should know that we just do not want to hear the gossip from the school halls."_

"_So you don't want to hear what the Creed boy was saying about you yesterday in the common room?" Lee laughed as the professor colored and turned away from him, intent on watching the game._

"_Ravenclaw makes the penalty shot, it's now 10 – 0."_

_Harry zoned out of the commentating, intent on finding the snitch. The entire game was on the line, history even. He redoubled his efforts, searching everywhere in sight, even the out of bounds area. He was convinced that he would give everything to win this game, though he did not know it, this would soon be tested._

_Harry ducked a bludger as he heard cheers. Someone had obviously scored, he did not know whom. More cheers were thrown periodically over the next hour before he allowed himself to look at the scoreboard. Gryffindor was ahead 230 – 150. This took Harry back; they were not supposed to be up at all. A close look showed that Ginny and her chasers were playing their hearts out. Their young players seemed nearly unable to go much longer, they were being incredibly aggressive, even crazy. Their daring spins and moves had very obviously confused the veteran Chasers of Ravenclaw, who had played a very conservative and standard game of Quidditch. It was like when the alley-oop was invented in muggle basketball, it was chaos. Whenever a Ravenclaw chaser would come close, the Gryffindor girls would zig zag uncontrollably and barrel roll as they flew. The other chasers kept their distance for fear of their own safety. Their defense was not up to usual par though. Thus, them letting fifteen shots past. Oliver was not getting much help. Instead of playing fourth chaser like he had been trained in this situation, to help the girls score more than one hundred fifty points ahead to make a snitch catch impossible. He decided to play risky and keep it going looking for the snitch._

_A glint of gold, is that the snitch?_

_He was not the only one who saw it. The Ravenclaw seeker had obviously already been on its' tail. Harry pushed closer after him, remembering that he wasn't pushing for just the snitch, and the game. He was chasing the Quidditch cup, along with the eternal of being the youngest player to ever hoist it. That is when he had a thought. Ginny's birthday was August 11. His Birthday was July 31. Ginny was less than two weeks younger than him. The entire ruckus Lee Jordan had made at the beginning of the game was false; if he caught this snitch then Ginny would be the youngest player ever to be a part of something like hoisting the Quidditch Cup. He was going to catch this snitch, if not for him then for her. He chanced a look at Ginny and his heart stopped._

_Play had stopped outside of the seekers battling for the snitch. The Chasers and beaters were all hovering and cheering on their team seeker. Each going for glory. They were oblivious to all that was around them, including bludgers. Ginny had no idea what was gunning for her back at this very moment. In the split second, he had made his decision. He stopped and changed course, instead flying as fast as he could to where Ginny was. The confusion among the Gryffindors was answered when they saw where he was looking at. They entire stadium watched as the Bludger violently collided with the back of Ginny's shoulder blade, throwing her from her broom. Harry sped up as he watched her fall. He was the only one remotely close enough to make a move, and he did. He caught her halfway to the ground. His fear slowly subsiding, he tried to think up some cute little phrase to say, but his mind was not really working right for obvious reasons._

_Ginny desperately clung to his neck with one arm, "I think I dislocated my shoulder."_

_Harry was appalled at how calm she was being about this, "Ginny, I'm just glad you didn't dislocate your neck."_

_Ginny gave him a smirk, "Harry you can't…"_

"_BLARNEY CATCHES THE SNITCH! RAVENCLAW WINS 300 - 230! POTTER GIVES UP THE LEAD AND THE TROPHY!"_

_Harry shrugged, as far as he was concerned he had caught the real prize. He did not voice this for fear of death by Weasley, but he would always call her his special trophy._

_Oliver flew angrily over as Ravenclaw stormed the field in celebration."Potter what in the hell were you doing?"_

_Harry gave him a look that very eloquently said 'duh'. "Oliver, Ginny got hit and fell."_

"_Where she would have been caught by the Headmaster. You gave up the game for some petty little crush. You ruined history Potter." Oliver yelled, steam materializing from his ears._

"_Oliver, what if hadn't been paying attention?" Harry tried to reason._

"_Our Headmaster is Albus freaking Dumbledore, Potter. He sees everything." A crowd was gathering now to watch Harry get a violent berating. "And you," Oliver shouted, pointing to Ginny, "You should have been watching for the damn Bludgers! This is just as much your fault."_

"_Now hold on a minute," Ginny said, still clinging to Harry with one arm._

_Oliver threw his hands up before flying off, getting in one last punch, "You were late, and now this. I don't want to see either of you in my practices next year or the year after." He ignored the protests of the crowd around him, including the other Quidditch players. "Shut Up! I want a winner, not this louse." He flew away, leaving Harry and Ginny on the ground in the middle of a large crowd. He and Ginny were saved by Madame Pomfrey as she rushed forward and hauled the both of them away._

_One thing was dreadfully apparent by the scornful looks his fellow Gryffindor's were sending them. It was apparent that their last half month was going to be absolute Hell on Earth._

_A/N: __Just two Chapter left. Please enjoy and give me feedback, I would like to know how you people want the story to end. The next chapter is the climax, it has nearly been written in my head, but I would love to hear from you. Also, I took a break from this story for a couple of months and honed my skill in another section, my question to you guys is, have the last two chapters been better than the first ten?  
_


	13. Dean's Rage

**A/N:** I am absolutely giddy right now. I got my first flame on the last chapter. This may seem weird to you as to the reason I was so excited for the flame. My conviction however is very clear. I had no idea how I would handle it, I feared that somebody writing 'This is total shit,' would discourage me, but it didn't. I laughed. More chuckled, but I am happy to have it past, and I welcome the many flames to come. And no StrollingAlong, your review wasn't a flame, just incredibly critical, yet helpful and appreciated review, as are they all.

**Chapter 13: Dean's Rage**

The full implications of what had just occurred had finally begun to sink in as he watched the bitter crowd of angry Gryffindors disperse. Harry could almost chuckle at Oliver Wood's stupidity. As great as a wizard was, nobody is omnipotent. Dumbledore was probably just as busy watching the race for the snitch as the rest of the crowd. Luckily he seemed to be the only one looking after Ginny.

Ginny stood beside Harry, gasping for breath as the adrenaline of the past hour washed away, and the real pain had begun to rear its ugly head. Her right shoulder was throbbing, and obviously was completely dislocated. She didn't blame her brother's for not seeing the bludger, but she did blame herself for her near death. Had it not been for the wonderful boy standing next to her, she wouldn't be standing next to him, in a manner of speaking. She would hug the boy if her arm wasn't dislocated. As it were, the best she could accomplish was wrapping her left arm around his side and looking up into his shinning emerald eyes.

She started to thank him, but it wasn't needed. They may not share the mental bond they had when they had used the jar, but they seemed to have reached a plane of understanding. Before she could say a word, Harry had simply smiled and nodded.

Harry would have stayed where he was the entire day if Hermione had not finally fought through the crowd and shifted him back into the real world.

"That was absolutely terrifying. How did you see her fall Harry? You were going the other… GINNY! What happened to your arm?"

Ginny sluggishly looked down to see her right arm dangling from where it had been dislodged from her shoulder. She shrugged her left shoulder, "I'm almost completely sure it's dislocated."

Harry's eyes flared as if seeing for the first time, while Hermione snorted, "Almost sure? Ginny we have to get you to the Nurse, posthaste."

Ginny didn't have time to chuckle at Hermione's archaic expression before she was in Harry's arms, running towards the castle. He had obviously taken it upon himself to get her to the hospital wing quickly. The pain in her arm, however, protested the quick, jarring movements.

"Harry," Ginny got his attention through gritted teeth, "Any other day I would curse a Slytherin to have this kind of treatment, but my arm…"

Harry caught the meaning and quickly put her down, "I'm sorry Ginny. I was only trying to help."

Ginny did another one arm shrug, "You couldn't have known, but you can make it better by walking with me."

Harry nodded, still upset at himself for not realizing his actions would hurt Ginny. "Of course I'll walk with you. It's the least I could do after hurting your arm."

Ginny huffed, "Would you stop it Harry, if it weren't for you I would be dead, plain and simple."

Harry mumbled something noncommittal, then ran ahead to grab the door to the Entrance Hall, bowing low as Ginny passed through, "My Lady." He said with a dignified voice.

Ginny giggled, "Why thank you kind sir."

Harry smiled as her fell in step next to her. He greatly enjoyed her bubbly laugh. It was the kind that lit up a room, and made dead people smile. Not Snape of course, but even Ginny wasn't a miracle worker.

They continued in silence. They were sneered at by passing Gryffindors, thanked by passing Ravenclaws, laughed at by passing Slytherins, and being given pity filled looks of understanding by the passing Hufflepuffs. Nothing truly eventful happened until they reached the Hospital Ward itself.

"I'll be with you in a minute." Madame Pomfrey called from the other end of the ward; she was treating what seemed to be a badly injured older student in his bed.

Harry walked up next to her, "What happened to him?"

Madame Pomfrey jumped from where she stood beside him. "Mister Potter, you scared the Dickens out of me. I told you to wait on the other side of the ward." The aging healer calmed down enough and decided to grace his question with an answer. "This misguided student thought it wise to stray into the forbidden forest. We assume a Centaur brought him out and laid him on the edge. He had flowers clutched in his hand, so I'm assuming he's got a lovely girlfriend. Idiot boy."

Harry surveyed the unconscious boy before him. He seemed to need a bit more work done; whatever got him must have cut him up pretty bad. Thankfully it all looked merely superficial. "Madame if I may. He looks like he has a bit to go, but Ginny has dislocated her arm, and it shouldn't take long to heal her compared to him."

Madame Pomfrey turned to survey Ginny on a bed on the other end of the ward, cradling her limp arm. She tutted "Student unable to fix a dislocated shoulder? What are they teaching these days?"

She wasted no time in hurrying across the room to aide Ginny. Harry, however, felt himself being yanked forward. He turned to see the mystery student lying in the bed, yet leaned forward and holding tightly onto the neck of Harry's robe. The student had a crazed look in his eye, "Stay away from the cave."

He was pulled out of the way by Madame Pomfrey, they watched as the student fell back into unconsciousness. "What did he say Potter?" the healer asked with curious conviction.

Harry looked at the student, "He told me to stay away from a cave, or something."

Madame Pomfrey nodded, "Well I have fixed Miss Weasley's shoulder and given her a sleeping potion. I'm keeping her overnight, but she will join you tomorrow at breakfast."

Harry nodded, knowing he was being dismissed. He thanked her and walked over to Ginny's bed, where she was peacefully sleeping. He smiled at her, remembering that he had almost lost her earlier that day. Harry steeled his nerves and leaned down to kiss the sleeping girl's forehead. A sense of warmth filled him as he turned to leave. He imagined he saw a ghost of a smile on Madame Pomfrey's face, but he doubted it. He had never seen her smile.

He closed the door behind him as he began to leave. He walked the first bit in silence, not thinking of much else except for the nerve he didn't know he had to do what he had just done. He smiled a strange smile, as a feeling he had yet to feel over took him.

~*~

Later on the way to the common room, Harry saw Seamus Finnigan. He decided to tick another thing off his checklist.

"OY! Finnigan!" Harry called as he ran up to him down the corridor, "We need to talk."

Seamus turned and looked confusedly at him, "What do you want Harry?" There was no venom in his voice, only curiosity.

"Dean's your best mate, right?" Harry questioned, knowing the answer but asking anyway.

Seamus shrugged, "I guess, we hang out more with each other than without."

Harry nodded, "So you're with Dean when he's bullying Neville then?"

Seamus looked surprised, even aghast. "You're crazy Harry. Dean is the least physical person I know. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

Harry's temper flared as he stepped closer to Seamus, "Don't call Neville a liar. I saw his nose dripping with blood last night because Thomas thought it would be funny to tie his laces together. Don't tell me he isn't violent."

Seamus didn't back down, maybe it was in his blood, "Dean obviously wasn't with me. I'll talk to 'im and see what this is all about."

Harry shook his head, "That isn't good enough. Neville is my friend and I'm not going to let this stand any longer. I'm going to find Dean now."

Harry tried to walk past him, but Seamus grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "No Potter, I'm going to talk to him. He needs to hear it from me."

"Finnigan you had better listen here…"

"No Potter, you listen. Don't go spreading this around the school, but Dean's Mum died a couple of months ago. He hasn't been having a very good time about it. He may have been takin' it out on the smallest mouse, if you get me."

Harry was slightly stunned. He remembered his father had left at his birth and his mother was the only one he had. "Wow, who does he have left to take care of him."

Seamus shrugged, "His stepfather would be more than happy to do it. He just found it he was his stepfather and not his real father when his Mum died."

Harry felt sympathy for the boy, but his actions were still inexcusable. "You'll talk to him?"

Seamus nodded.

"Thanks mate." Harry said patting his shoulder before turning to continue on his way.

"That was a nice catch at the pitch Potter." Seamus said before he left.

"Is that sarcasm Finnigan? You know I didn't catch the snitch." Harry said testily. He didn't feel like being second guessed by anymore people on his way back to the tower.

"I wasn't talking about the snitch. Don't tell anybody I said this." Seamus dramatically looked around as if to make sure they were alone, "But there are some things more important than Quidditch."

Harry smiled, "Did I just hear Seamus Finnigan correctly? The same student that punched Alistair McCraggen because he thought Alicia was flying too slowly."

Seamus shrugged, "I surprised even myself. Don't worry about our housemates Harry; they've got their head so far up their own ass that they don't know which way is up. They'll come around; I heard the twins have been working Oliver down all day." Seamus saw Harry's face sour at mentioning Oliver. "Don't be too angry with him. I've talked with him and he's a good guy. He got carried away earlier. The Quidditch Cup is his dream after all. I bet you he'll be apologizing by tomorrow, maybe even beg you to play for him again next year."

Harry smiled, "We'll see. See you around Finnigan; make sure you talk to Dean."

Seamus nodded and the boys parted ways, both feeling much better than before the conversation was started.

A/N: I lied. There are two more chapters. I just felt it needed to be ended here. It was either this or you would have to wait a couple of days. This one is very short, but I should write the fight tomorrow or the next day, and the story will finally be complete in a week or so. Love to hear from you guys. What do you think Harry and Ginny will do to get back in Hermione's good graces?


	14. Prelude to an Ending

**A/N: **Alas I grew lazy and posted late; I missed the 31st, which I'm assuming was benperez31's birthday. I found out he wasn't 31 though. If you want to know his age then you should comment one of his stories and ask. Any one else who wants a birthday wish, just drop me a line in your review around a week before your b-day, and I'll try to update with your wishes as well. I took some time of, but the ending of the year will absolutely blow your fricken mind.

**Chapter 14: Prelude to an Ending**

Harry was tired of the stares he had been receiving in the common room; it seems that they weren't as understanding as he had thought. He decided to leave and take a walk along the grounds. He kept his eyes peeled for Hermione; he definitely needed to talk to her. She had seemed scared after the match, but when he left for the Hospital Wing she had not followed. This worried Harry and proved she still had some lingering distaste over how they had handled the jar in relation to her.

Harry was aware they had made a mistake; he didn't need the betrayed look on Hermione's face to tell him that. He knew why he and Ginny had tried to keep it a secret, but when put in relation to losing their study partner and friend, the power was nothing.

Harry sighed as he turned the corner and entered the library. He had yet to spot Hermione; she wasn't at the usual table she studied at. Harry was sad to realize that this was the only place he knew to look for Hermione. He shook his head as he did an about face and left for the Hospital Wing. He knew it housed at least one witch that could make him feel better.

Upon arriving in the wing, he saw that Ginny was still sleeping. After some argument, Madame Pomfrey decided that she could go to dinner with him if she was awake when the time came, but only if she returned afterwards to stay the night. Harry chose to sit next to her bed in a waiting chair and do just that, wait.

To a normal eleven year old boy, waiting on a fellow student much less a girl, would be boring and stupid. Harry had never been a normal boy. Not in raising or temperament. He supposed he was a cut above the rest maturity wise, but he would never dwell on it. He just supposed that most of his friends were girls because that was who he was. He sat with Ginny for half an hour, unknowingly under the watchful eye of Madame Pomfrey the whole time.

Poppy had been the Hogwarts matron long enough to remember young Harry's parents. She had often been hard on him, most likely because he looked so much like his father. She had seen enough of his father over his seven years to flinch over what young Harry was to bring her next. But as she watched him sit with his friend, face filled with compassion, she realized that he was much more like his mother than she had thought. The compassion that filled his face s he reached out for his friends hand had been astounding. She wouldn't be surprised if those two weren't married before the end of Hogwarts.

Thoughts of weddings did not, however, draw Poppy's mind away from the emotional quagmire that arose whenever she thought of James and Lily Potter and their friends. The whole story was a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare as far as she was concerned. James and Lily's story was just as heart wrenching as that of their wedding's best man Sirius Black. The entire saga was enough to bring the hardened old widow to a near tearful state, which was considered bawling to a woman like her.

She shook her head as she saw the two students whispering to each other, she wouldn't eavesdrop. She bowed her head and crept back to her office in the back where she tried to fight the images of the mangled bodies she had seen in the war. She was only glad she would never see that type of destruction again.

~*~

Harry watched as Ginny began to grimace and shake, as if having a nightmare. He softly grasped her smaller hand in his; hoping that this small act would ease her mind. She stopped shaking, but immediately clamped onto his hand. He watched her sadly as her facial expressions changed, wishing it had been a dreamless sleep potion that had been given. The fear of falling to her death had probably affected her more than she would ever tell him. That didn't mean he wasn't going to offer what little he could. He lost track of time as he sat there holding her hand, using his thumb to rub small circles around the back of it. Ever so lowly, Ginny began to wake up.

Her eyes fluttered open as she immediately sought out the source of pressure on her hand. She sighed with content after her eyes had followed the arm back to Harry's smiling face. "Well good morning."

Harry chuckled, "More like afternoon."

Ginny seemed to balk, "I've been asleep for that long?"

"Sleeping potions tend to do that. If you hurry and get dressed we might still make dinner." Harry said as he let go of her hand and began to put up her screen. He waited patiently for a couple of minutes before the screen was thrown aside and Ginny began to quickly drag him out of the Ward.

Harry was about to question her pace before he heard her stomach give a loud gurgle. He held back laughter as they blew through the halls and arrived in the Great Hall seconds after the food appeared. Harry hadn't been surprised at the silence that greeted them. They had received a similar silence many times this year after various pranks that couldn't officially trace back to them.

They sat down across from a cross looking Hermione Granger, who had gone back to being angry with them after she was sure they weren't hurt. As Ginny began to fill her plate, Harry instead looked appraisingly at Hermione. Harry had come up with a rudimentary plan to win back Hermione's trust, but it wasn't his decision alone to make.

Hermione watched as Harry and Ginny began to discreetly whisper back and forth across the table, "Oh wonderful, some more secrets we aren't planning on sharing?" she said angrily.

Ginny nodded to Harry and then continued eating as if nothing had happened. Harry was the one that chose to talk, "Hermione, me and Ginny feel terrible about how we treated you and not trusting you and we want to make it up for you."

Hermione watched as Ginny nodded, either that of she was trying to finish slurping that stubborn noodle, but it could have been both. "And why should I believe you?" Hermione asked unsurely.

"You shouldn't" Harry started, "We don't really deserve that, but we would be thrilled if you gave us just one chance to show how sorry we are."

Hermione seemed to mull this over before curtly nodding.

Harry grinned, "Good. Meet us tonight at ten after curfew, dress warm."

With that the plates disappeared from in front of them. Harry frowned as he had spent the whole time talking. He decided to make a kitchen run, Ginny didn't look quite filled up either, and Madame Pomfrey could certainly wait. They got up and left for the kitchen, leaving a sputtering Hermione behind, "Wait, after curfew?"

Harry nodded as if it was obvious, "Of course, we have to give Ginny enough time to sneak out of the Hospital wing, don't we?"

~*~

Hermione climbed slowly down the stairs. She couldn't believe that she had let Harry talk her into this. Going out after curfew was strictly forbidden, and she knew it. She had always been a stickler for the rules, but something about Harry and Ginny had always taken her ability to say no right out of her hands. Was it Harry's confident smile or Ginny's unstoppable attitude? She couldn't say which, all she could say was yes and follow them.

Hermione finally reached the bottom step as Devon was going up the steps to the boy's dorm. She blushed as he patted her shoulder before going up the stairs. She settled on the couch, alone except for the fifth and seventh years, studying for their O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T.S. respectively. She shook her head as she watched them cramming, lucky she would never have to cram like that.

Her eyes snapped towards the portrait hole as it flung open. Harry came through with Ginny in tow. "Good you're up. Ready?"

Hermione just nodded as she watched him throw a sack over his shoulder and pull out his invisibility cloak, ushering her under with him and Ginny, and off they went. She could only gape as they moved around with ease. She had to remind herself that they had done this many times; the amount of time they were in detention was only a testament to that fact. Hermione didn't show alarm until they went outside.

"Harry, Ginny, where in the world are we going?" Hermione asked panicedly

Ginny shrugged, "We said we were going to show you how sorry we were."

"And this is the best way." Harry concluded as they skulked past Hagrids cabin and towards the woods.

The stopped at the edge of the forest before taking off Harry's cloak, "I think we should hide this somewhere so that we don't lose it inside."

Ginny looked around, "How about behind that crate next to Hagrid's Hut."

Harry shrugged as he ran over and quietly placed his cloak safely behind the crate. He came back, bag still in hand. Hermione eyed the bag cautiously, "What's in the bag Harry?"

Harry shrugged as he took out the Obsidian Jar. "We decided to take this thing back where we found it. We figured it would show you how little it mattered compared to your friendship."

Hermione was so choked up that she didn't even think to tell them to stop.

Ginny pulled her sleeve to get her attention, "Lost you for a second there Hermione. Harry was telling me about the jar and something about it being evil. Do you mind finishing the story?"

Hermione wiped a tear and nodded, "It all started over a thousand years ago, no one knows quite sure when. It was a troubled time with the wizarding world, there had been Dark Lord's back then as there have been in these days, but one rose above the rest. He was known as Blackthorn. Unlike any other Dark Lord that ever rose, he welcomed Muggle Born witches and Wizards into his army and trained them with a wand. Not even the leaders of the supposed good side would train the Muggle Born's. That's what bolstered his numbers so much. He overran the wizarding world for over twenty year before a young wizard from southern France heard of the conflict and traveled north to face him. His name was Gregory LeRoux, LeRoux is loosely translated to 'of red hair' for your information. We don't know how he did it, but he eventually stopped him, but he couldn't kill him. Blackthorn had so much magic that his body refused to die, but he was caught in a huge fire that LeRoux had set. Before the ashes could reform Gregory LeRoux came and collected the ashes in a jar, the Obsidian Jar."

"Now way, how did it get here?" Harry asked as he and Ginny listened with rapt attention, both eyeing the sack in Harry's hands with caution.

Hermione smiled, "Legend says that on his deathbed, Gregory LeRoux gave the jar to his nephew for safe keeping. His nephew's name was said to be Godric Gryffindor."

"Impossible Hermione," Ginny said, "I'm pretty sure I would have heard about it by now. Mum home schooled me and my brothers quite strenuously."

Hermione seemed to consider it, "Well, I found the story in an old book of 'Wizarding Legends'. I wouldn't have believed it had you two not found the jar."

Harry smiled and shook his head, she almost had him too.

~*~

Randolph Henderson was not an easy man to fool. He had been alive even longer than Dumbledore and had found it difficult to teach the upper year levels by example. His wand wasn't as quick as it used to be and it was some miracle that Dumbledore had let him teach here. It had been on his advice to Dumbledore that he not store the Sorcerer's Stone at the school, and it had been a very quiet year for that. He had beat out the only other applicant, one Quirinus Quirrel. Something about that boy had always rubbed him the wrong way and he had told Dumbledore so.

The old man looked out the window at the grounds and saw two of his usual detention servers leading a friend into the Forbidden Forest. He sighed as he put on his cloak and grabbed his wand. Another huge flaw of his was his hapless pride. He chose to follow the kids alone, and it would be a mistake he would never get to remake.

~*~

The students trudged on in the darkness, the story of the creepy jar forgotten at the beginning of their trek and only the looming sounds of the dangerous forest occupied their minds now. The howls of the night forest lay ahead; a foreboding sense of disaster was palpable.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Ginny asked, irritated.

"Of course I know where I'm going; we walked this way twice before." Harry said as if it explained it, "Men have a higher spatial awareness than women do."

Ginny's eyes flashed dangerously, "Is that why we're hopelessly lost?"

Harry shrugged, "I know where we're going. It's in my DNA."

"You were supposed to turn back there I think." Hermione said quietly.

They turned around as Harry scowled and Ginny silently giggled. He put his arm around her to show that there were no hard feelings, and that he was obviously joking with her the entire time. She smiled and leaned in, while Hermione sighed dreamily from behind them.

They continued in silence until they heard voices up ahead.

"This has to be the cave. It has the matching rune above the entrance. Just like you said master" one voice said.

Harry threw his arms out to stop the girls as he watched the man walk into the cave. His scar burned uneasily at the coming danger. They waited a minute or two before speaking again.

"Ginny, Hermione, I'm going in there. If you guys want to go back, now is the best time." Harry tried diplomatically.

Hermione scoffed, "You better get that out of your head right now Harry. That is never going to happen."

Ginny nodded beside her, "I'm liable to hit you if you try it ever again. I'm going to fight with you harder than Sirius Black ever did."

Harry skewed his head in confusion, "Who is Sirius Black?"

Ginny gaped at him, "Sometimes I forget that you weren't raised a wizard. Sirius Black is a wizarding legend from the War against V-Voldemort." She stopped to collect her breath. "He and his followers attacked a hospital ward at Saint Mungos filled with injured Aurors. Unfortunately for him Sirius Black was there paying his respects. He held the horde of them off for nearly ten hours straight. They never found his body, so they assumed that he was taken. I used to ask to hear his story before bed, right before… yours."

Harry nodded and took it in. It figured that the wizarding world had its own Patton's, Leonidas's, and Wallace's. He brought his mind back to the task at hand, choosing to ignore the quip about her hearing his story before bed time.

He began to skulk forward into the cave where they had found the Jar, where they would find this Hogwarts trespasser that had obviously haunted the forest for the entire term. Thinking that this man had been the one to curse Hagrid all those months ago made Harry's blood boil. He had to see who this man was.

He led his small unit of friends into the cave quietly, watching the shadows for suspicious movement. He could feel Hermione shaking beside him, and hear Ginny's shallow breath. Voices traveled from up ahead.

"Please no more master, it has obviously been taken. Look at the empty pedestal." The voice said.

Another hissed, "Don't point the obvious out to me. If you had found it sooner then it wouldn't be gone, would it?" A whimpering was all that was heard for a while, "Maybe you have finally outlived your usefulness."

"No master, I…"

Harry stepped forward, stowing the sack behind a rock in the tunnel before stepping out with his wand trained on the shivering man on the ground. "Who are you talking to?"

The man bolted to his feet and pointed his wand at the sound. He was taken aback when he saw three school children standing at the end of the cave. "Why hello children, would you like to help me find a priceless family heirloom?"

Harry felt his scar prickle again, but ignored it. He knew the man was lying, and he knew what he was really looking for. The tact he usually reserved when speaking to adults was forgotten when he had remembered that this was the man that had cursed Hagrid. "No sorry, we were just on a stroll through the woods when we saw you poking around. I want to know why you cursed Hagrid."

Harry said it with a lot more conviction then he felt, surprisingly, the man flinched. "Mister Potter I presume, and you friends? You must be in Gryffindor, the whole lot of you."

A strange voice came from the back of the man's head, "He hid it you fool. It's behind him."

The man nodded, "It seems you have something I want. Something I'm going to get from you." The man sent an orange hex at Harry, who promptly dove aside. Before Hermione could cast her wand, she was engulfed in tight ropes, and effectively out of the fight.

Harry got up and immediately began to regret following. Driven by anger, he hadn't realized that the teachers had been searching for the Obsidian Jar the entire time, this man included. The man sent two more charms and side stepped the yellow curse from Ginny's direction. They both fell down to the ground, bound as tight as Hermione.

The man began to walk slowly towards them, "Let me speak to his face, I want to see his eyes when I kill him."

The man paused before removing his purple turban and turning. What faced him made Harry want to vomit; on the back of this man's head was another head. Slits for nostrils and eyes, a truly gruesome feature combination.

"Harry Potter," It began, "I made the mistake of toying with you last time, now this time I'm going to kill you before you get the chance to do it again."

Harry could only gasp and mouth 'Voldemort' before he raised the man raised his wand and he saw a green flash, and heard Ginny's and Hermione's screams. He watched as the light he saw collided with the man before him and sent him back against the wall. The ropes binding him and his friends vanished as they scrambled to their feet. Ginny immediately flew to his side and squeezed the breath out of him. If he didn't know her any better, he would think she was crying.

They all returned their attention to see their elderly defense teacher throw a cutting curse, while simultaneously getting hit by one. His curse sliced at the side of Voldemort, while the one that hit him was much truer, and he fell.

Harry gasped as he saw Professor Henderson fall, blood oozing from his chest. They watched him in horror as he took his last few breaths.

Voldemort sneered, "Murdering someone while fighting backwards is quite the feat." He turned back to the kids. "Now give me the jar, or your lives are forfeit."

Harry stood like a stone, not expecting the man who killed his parents to let him leave either way. Ginny stood beside him, face set as well.

"Maybe the Cruciatous should loosen your tongue." He watched Harry's lips tighten, but he didn't move, "No? then how about your little girlfriend." He reared back, "Crucio!"

Harry watched as the beam shot towards Ginny. She had told him about the three unforgivables long ago into his questions about the wizarding world. He knew it would bring a great pain, one he didn't want her to feel. He was sure Malfoy would describe his next move as foolish Gryffindor idiocy, but he swiftly pushed Ginny out of the way and let the curse hit him.

A pain unlike anything he had ever felt. Nothing his aunt or her son had ever done to him had ever hurt this bad. He felt like every singular nerve inside his body was on fire. The burning was so loud he couldn't hear himself screaming. He didn't see the glee in Voldemort's face as he held the curse a bit longer than necessary, and he definitely didn't see Ginny scamper behind him and hit him with a sickly yellow curse. All he knew was that it had stopped. When he awoke, the first thing he saw was a fainted Hermione, followed by Voldemort and his 'friend' attacking flying objects that threatened to claw at him.

The objects disappeared with a swipe of his hand as he turned to look at Ginny, murderous. Harry reacted as he heard more words he knew.

"Avada Kedav…" The man was cut off as Harry leapt and wrapped his arms around his neck. The pain that Harry felt in his arms wasn't nearly as bad as the Cruciatous, but it wasn't something he could just shrug off. Yet Harry refused to let go, even as he saw the smoke rising from in between them. He was slowly losing consciousness, but it seemed the man beneath him was slowly succumbing to death. When the man quit struggling, Harry allowed himself to be dragged off by both Ginny, and a freshly awoken Hermione.

Ginny sounded frantic, "Hermione, go get the headmaster!"

Harry looked into Ginny's chocolate eyes as Hermione sprinted from the cave. He tried to memorize every detail about the girl before him as he fought to stay conscious. If he died tonight, he would see as much of her as he could. That beautiful brown was the last thing he saw as he finally blackout out.

**A/N:** I'm pretty proud of this. The next chapter is the last. The way it ends will blow you away. They have a visit from a certain Marauder, care to guess who? Oh and today is my older sisters wedding, so happy day to her.


	15. The Ending?

**A/N: **Someone asked if Voldemort was possessing Quirrel… The way he killed him says it all. Harry's gift of love only works against Voldemort to begin with, or his Aunt would have been dead long ago if it was based on those that truly hated him. She would have withered when she first touched him. By the way, LeRoux is a French last name meaning, 'red haired'. Funny that Gregory LeRoux was from France.

**Chapter 15: The Ending?**

Ginny watched frantically as Harry fell backward. Whatever had come out of Quirrel had attacked him or something, she couldn't explain it. All her years of magic had not prepared her for what they had faced in this cave. She remembered being so scared when Harry had leapt at the man, and even more scared when whatever demon had been in him had attacked Harry, but nothing compared to watching his eyes glaze over and then close. Hermione had taken off to get the headmaster. She may not be as quick as Ginny was, but she was the only one who she could trust to know their way back. And she wasn't leaving Harry behind.

She felt tears fall as she cradled his heavy head in her lap. If she didn't care so much, she would kill him herself for doing this to her, as she had wanted to all year. Ever since she had met him on the train, he had been doing this to her. Did he understand how it tortured her when she saw him like this?

She watched as every once in awhile his face contorted and then eased. She could only think of taking his pain away. She wished she had the power, and then it hit her. She did have that kind of power. She slowly let Harry's head onto the ground, putting her cloak under his head to act as a pillow. She got up and walked to where Harry had dropped the bag they had brought, the bag that held the jar.

She took it out and gazed at it. It was beautiful polished black stone with small cuttings around the middle. She didn't know what it said, and knew that she could read it if she truly wanted to. The Jar gave her a great confidence, like it fit her much better than it could ever fit anybody else, even Harry. She gazed at the lettering as it slowly reformed before her eyes. 'Blood of my blood shall free the beast, and bring a great death upon the land. But the great death shall truly be the end of all evil.'

Ginny stared confusedly, "'The end of all evil', what could that possibly mean?"

"It is a prophecy dear girl."

Ginny turned sharply, wand pointed at the ready. She saw nobody behind her, and nobody to the sides. The halls were dark and she wished to see, so she could examine every crook and cranny. She was startled at the jar began to glow an eerily green color, illuminated the whole room. It was empty.

Ginny backed up slowly, "Sh-show yourself!"

"I am not to be seen by your eye young girl. You must look inward."

Ginny shook as she remembered the demon that had come out of Quirrel and gone towards Harry. Had she been possessed in her eagerness to aid Harry?

There was a strange, warm laughter. "Nonsense girl, that demon could not taint your pure heart. It fears the love it holds inside. Try your hand."

Ginny looked at her wand and then understood as her gaze went to her other hand, the hand that held the jar; the jar that held the ashes of arguably the most powerful dark wizard of all time, Blackthorn. That is what Hermione had told them, and her research was never wrong.

"What makes a man evil young Ginny?" The shell of Blackthorn said through her mind, "Is it the warring times that I grew up in, or is it that I conquered them all during my lifetime and brought peace?"

Ginny shuddered, not understanding why she didn't dare drop the jar and end this conversation. "But you are evil, you killed people."

The voice of Blackthorn scoffed, "Evil is as evil does young Ginevra" The spirit chuckled as she grimaced at her name. "Is the act of mercy an evil tool?"

Ginny stood confused as the Jar changed to red and Harry's eyes glowed. "What have you done to him!" she screamed, and not in her head. She grimaced as it reverberated around the cave, piercing her ears.

"I simply healed him. The damage the demon had done has been removed. Is this something an evil being would do?"

Ginny stood confused as she watched Harry sleep, face no longer contorting. He curled up and buried his face into her cloak and smiled as if smelling something pleasing.

"You see Ginevra; I am not all bad am I? I am just a man who wishes what every other does."

"And what would that be?" Ginny asked questioningly

"Freedom," Blackthorn answered simply.

"Never; I can't let you roam the Earth again, even if you did heal Harry." Ginny rationalized, clearly convinced.

"But I won't, don't you see? I died a very long time ago my child, I am merely trapped in this jar, ever conscious and never sleeping. Over a thousand years I have been in this state. I simply want to ashes spread on the grounds I once called home, the Castle that became Hogwarts."

Ginny's resolve floundered as he spoke. What he had described had to be true, as he had been talking to her at the very moment, but alive a lifetime ago. She stowed her wand and looked deep into the glowing jar, "What can I do?"

"Start by hiding me."

Draco Malfoy was not used to being turned down, and why would he be? He had never been told no by anybody but his great father. Hogwarts had been quite the experiment in his lifetime, and it had all started on the first day with the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter.

Draco had offered his friendship at the very beginning to the boy, but he had arrogantly refused. Draco was so astounded that he had been truly vulgar to him during his first months of school. Then he took a step back and decided to act like the Slytherin he was and watch him. Examine the great Harry Potter and figure out what it had been that mad him refuse. How could he have the audacity, yet upon close examination it was obvious why. Harry Potter was a boy who went by his feelings of right and wrong, and somewhere along the way he had decided that Slytherin was bad. Maybe it was how Draco himself had treated him, but that was how he treated everybody.

That left him at Christmas, at home examining every aspect that made him Draco Malfoy. Damn Potter for making him think so much. It was a blessing at the same time; he had examined everything about his life and his system of beliefs. He had reorganized everything about him, all because of this silly half-blood. But as the year went on, it was clear that he and his best friend, the Weasley girl, were formidable in their own right. Even the Granger girl had a hint of promise in her. Of course it was very deep down; her smug attitude would definitely keep them apart for years to come.

Maybe Harry had rejected him because of his smug attitude, but why would he hang around the know it all if she had the same attitude. The only answer was that she wasn't a Slytherin, and he was. Maybe the Boy Who Lived was guilty of a little prejudice of his own. It had to be from the contempt that the Slytherin house had shown him all year. Maybe Draco would have to spend the next year reeducating Potter on what being a Slytherin truly meant.

Harry woke slowly, not sure where he was for a moment. One thing that was certain was that the room smelled quite good. As he sat up, that notion was dispelled; it was just a musty old cave. He heard loud voices and footsteps. He could pick out Ginny and Hermione chattering in the distance, and growing closer. He tried to stand but soon couldn't as he found himself enveloped in a tight hug by two ecstatic girls, both talking very loudly. Vague memories flouted back to him of the moment before his collapse. The pain he had felt through both the Cruciatous and the pain of touching that evil man. The man that held Voldemort on the back of his head. But he could not dwell on bad thoughts as he felt the outpouring of love from the girls hugging him. He turned his attention to his Head of House and the Headmaster standing before him, looking equally shocked.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall began, "From the way you described it, Mister Potter was badly hurt, not simply taking a nap out of bounds…" Her voice trailed off as she saw the body of Quirrel behind them. Her lips tightened as she accepted the grim story that Miss Granger had told her; though her story of Voldemort could simply be imagined.

"Mister Potter, if you will follow me back to the school, I believe we have a long talk ahead of us." Dumbledore said, staring down his spectacles, trying to solve the Potter Puzzle.

Harry sighed as Ginny closed the compartment door behind her. They had been in quite a bit of trouble over the last month they had been at school. McGonagall was so furious that she had to be talked down from suspension yet again. But they weren't so lucky; they had spent their last few weeks in a constant state of detention. Harry was almost feeling nostalgic of the freedom the train had offered, yet had a sense of despair at where the train was taking him.

He and Ginny had spoken extensively about it, and he felt a lot better at going 'home' than he would have. He sufficed himself to just enjoy the train ride back to civilization, and not wallow in his pity. The train ride back was filled with frank discussion and wizarding games. The only memorable event was a conversation started by Hermione.

"What I don't understand is what happened to that jar?" Hermione questioned them, as she had obviously said many times to herself. She turned to Ginny, "You said you left the cave to come look for us and the jar just wasn't there when we went back."

Ginny nodded uneasily, Harry noticed. He made note that Hermione obviously didn't. This was something he would have to talk to her about, but the conversation wasn't forgotten as the twins came in near the end. The conversation understandably did not get much more intelligent over the rest of the train ride. Harry had felt very close to the twins, especially after he had apologized for losing them the game and they had laughed in his face. Their love for their sister was greater than many relationships he had seen at Hogwarts so far.

Even Oliver had come around, he didn't apologize, but he did say that his decision was 'rash' and that Harry would be given the opportunity to try out next season. Harry didn't care so much, he knew he would either make it or not, and that his friends would think no different about him. Hermione might even be excited; he would have more time to study with her.

Their compartment even went and visited Percy's compartment, or 'pestering' as Percy said, but the look on his face said differently. Before Harry knew it, he was on the platform ready to go 'home'.

He saw the Dursley's waiting uncomfortably, shooting eyes at the 'un-normal' surrounding them. He turned ad Hermione gave him a huge hug, promised to write and ran off to catch the bus, her parents had been at some kind of conference and unable to pick them up. He shook Neville's hand and even gave Draco Malfoy a respectful nod from across the platform. The look on Draco's face confused him but nothing confused him more than Ginny's uneasy glance, "You'll write to me?"

Harry scoffed, "Of course."

Ginny looked down and nodded before rising up to quickly kiss him on the cheek before turning red and running to her brothers. Only one of her brothers had seen and he was giving him a very odd look. As if he didn't know if he should be angry or reverent of Harry. Harry smiled; this was Ginny's younger brother Ron. From the look on his face, the next year would be interesting.

Harry turned and walked towards his aunt and uncle before he felt a hand on his shoulder. "My God, you look so much like you father."

Harry turned sharply and looked upon the haggard man before him, "Do I know you sir?"

The man nodded vigorously, "Well of course you do. I was one of your Father's best friends. I have waited a very long time for this, to meet you in person that is. I know you don't really trust me yet, but I would like for us to get to know each other. Maybe I could write you this summer?"

Harry looked at his impatient relatives and he turned back to the man, I guess, but what are you named?"

The man smiled in relief, "Pettigrew, Peter Pettigrew"

Harry shook the man's hand and nodded, and then turned to follow his relatives away. Not knowing that his crazy summer would lead to an even crazier year, one that would shape his entire destiny.

**Complete**

**A/N:** Feel free to leave very long reviews; I may just respond if I like it enough. ;)


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